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GEORGIA 



BEFORE THE 



Senate Judiciary Committee, 



Washington, D. C, February 9, 1870, 



MAR 6 19^3 
D. ot D. 



v<^ 






Rooms of the Judiciary Committee, 

Washington, Fehrunry 9, 18*70, 
11 o'clock A. M. 

At a meeting of the Judiciary Committee of the United States 
Senate, the Chairman, Mr. Trumbull, said : 

The papers before the Committee are the resolution of the 
Legislature of the Stale of Georgia, ratifying the proposed 
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
February 7, 18t0 ; the resolution ratifying the proposed Four- 
teenth Amendment to the Constitution of th^' United States, 
and the assent of Georgia to the conditions imposed by the act 
of June 25, 1868. These are the papers that were presented 
to the Senate the other morning, and have just been printed. 

Mr. Caldwell and several other gentlemen called upon me 
day before yesterday, and stated that they desired to present to 
the Committee some matters in regard to the state of affairs in 
Georgia, and I informed them that the Committee would meet 
here at 11 o'clock to-day I suggested to them that they 
should put in writing the points that they wished to submit to 
the Committee. 

Before we proceed I would remind these gentlemca that we 
have but an hour — from now until 12 o'clock — and it is neces- 
sary that they should avoid extraneous matters, and be as brief 
as possible in presenting their points. 

MR BRYANT. Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of the Com- 
mittee : 

We are here as Republicans who are opposed to the organi- 
zation of the Legisture as it at present exists. This Commit- 
tee requested Mr. Caldwell and myself to draw up and present 
a statement of our views. Mr. Caldwell will first open his 



remarks and read a portion of the argument, and I will follow 
with the remainder. The argument is in writing, and we will 
be as brief as possible and not weary your patience. 

MR. CALDWELL said: Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of 
the Judiciary Committee, we come here as Republicans from 
Georgia, to relate the perils aud sacrifices attending our efforts 
to establish a republican party in the State, and appeal to you 
as Georgians concerning the welfare of our State, and the future 
peace and prosperity of our people. 

I propose, therefore, in the name and in behalf of my associ- 
ates, and those with whom I act, and whom, as a delegation, 
we represent, to present a plain and unvarnished statement of 
facts with the inferences that may be drawn from them, trusting 
that you, in your wisdom, will devise a remedy for existing 
evils, aud to your sense of justice to redress the evils of which 
we complain. 

Georgia, as you are aware, procecdtd to carry oat in good 
faith the reconstruction acts of the 39th Congress. A Conven- 
tion framed a const! lution, which was submitted to the people 
for their ratification It was ratified by a large majority. The 
great mass of voters, some 200,000, participated in the election. 
It was as free and impartial an election as was ever held in 
Georgia, the polls being named and the election being conducted 
under the military supervision of Major General Meade, the 
district commander. At the same tiuie a governor, county offi- 
cers, members of Congress, 44 state senators and 173 represen- 
tatives were elected, two counties entitled to one member each 
making no returns. 

The Constitution being submitted to Congress, it was, in the 
main, approved by that body, and an act was passed declaring 
the State of Georgia entitled to representation in Congress 
whenever the Legislature should comply with certain fundamen- 
tal conditions. Upon the 25th day of June, 1868, General 
Meade issued a proclamation convening the Legislature so elec 
ted at Atlanta, on the 4th day of July. Only the names of 
those who were declared elected by General Meade appeared in 
that proclamation. These proceedings are printed in the Jour- 



nal of the House of Representativ<'S fur 18H8, which we present 
for your inspection. The members were sworn in by Judge 
Erskine, the person appointed by General Meade, and the Hon. 
Rufus 13. Bulioek. Governor elect, who was acting at the time 
as Provisional Governor, appeared and was sworn to sup[5ort 
the Constitution of the United States, and of the State of 
Georgia. No other oath was required, and it was the oath 
recommended and approviul by General Grant. 

From that time on each member was bound, in all the subse- 
quent legislation in which he participated, by his oath, to sup- 
port the Constitution of the State. And we are not aware that 
Congress has passed any act since then relieving him from the 
obligation of that oath. No question was raised thereat the 
time the members were qualified, and no objection made to the 
eligibility of any of them on any ground whatever, but all who 
were named in the proclamation of General Meade were allowed 
to qualify. Each house proceeded to elect and qualif}^ its 
officers The President of the Senate and all its other officers 
were the regular nominees of the Republican party The 
HoubC elected the Republican nominee for Speaker, and then 
adjourned until Monday, July 6th. Vhe parties then split on the 
other officers, the Democrats electing a clerk and messenger, and 
the Republicans a door-keeper. On a join tballot, as was after- 
wards ascertained, the Republicans had a clear majority of 13. 
As soon as the two Houses were organized. Provisional Gover- 
nor Bullock suggested to General Meade that there were persons 
holding their seats in each House who w-ere ineligible under the 
14th Amendment, and the General ordered both Houses to sus- 
pend all other business and proceed to inquire into the eligibility 
of its members. A resolution was adopted by each House, 
after the investigation, declaring all of the members eligible to 
their seats. This done, there was a clear Republican majority 
in each branch of the Legislature, or else neither could have 
elected its Republican nominees. The names of the members 
were called eo nominee by the proper officers, and they 
voted viuu voce, as the Constitution requires. General Meade 
approved of the course pursued by each House in the inves- 



ligation determinini^: the question of eligibility, and the 
Legislature immediately ratified the lith Amendment, and 
adopted tlie fundamental conditions required by Congress. 
Hon. Rufus B. Bullock was then inaugurated as permanent 
Governor, and he swore to support the Constitution of the 
United States and the Constitution of the State of Georgia, 
His term of oflBce, according to an ordinance of the Convention 
providing for the first election under the new Coiistitution, was 
to extend from the time of his inauguration until four years 
from the following January, or until January, 1873, when his 
successor, who should be elected in November, should be quali- 
fied. One-half of the Senators were to hold until January, 
1873, when their successors should be qualified, and the other 
half with all Representatives, until January, 1871. The theory 
of his Excellency now is that the late act of Congress to pro- 
mote reconstruction in Georgia invalidates all the acts of the 
Legislature which preceded it, and that, consequently, his own 
term of office is extended until four years from next January. 
The term of one-half of the Senators is also extended until four 
years from that time, and the term of the other half of the Sen- 
ators, and of all the Representatives, until Januar}^, 1871, thus 
giving to all an extension of two years beyond the time meant 
by the Constitution, or intended by their constituencies. Such 
is his pretension, sir, based on the plain and simple Act of Con- 
gress of December last But it would be well to see how incon- 
sistent is this resumption with his former declarations and acts. 

In his Inaugural Address he congratulated the county on the 
completion of reconstruction in Georgia, and the same day be 
gave a banquet at his own house over the restoration of the 
State to her proper relations with the Union. But, mark you, 
this was before the election of the United States Senators. In 
due time that election was held, and the result was different 
from what his excellency had anticipated Hon. Joshua 
Hill, a distinguished Union man and a Republican, 
was elected for the long term, and the Hon. H, Y. M- 

Miller, an old Whig, and a member of the Constutional Con- 
vention, and an earnest friend of reconstruction, the chairman 



of the committee appointed to revise the work (.--f the eight 
committees, to whom was assigned different parts of the con. 
stitution that was to go before the people for adoption, was 
elected for the short lerm This was done without concert or 
agreement between them. Mr. Hill, on ttie first ballot, re(^;eived 
onl^y the votes of Union men and Republicans; leaving off all 
those who'voted for Mr. Miller, who have since been declared 
ineligible, he had a (dear majority of 7. By the same rule, 
Hon. Joseph E Brown, the regular Republican noininee, had 
a majority of 3. Governor Bullock cenified officially to the 
election of Messrs. Hill and Miller, and in that certificate 
declared that they were legally elected. 

After the election of United States Senators, the Legislature 
went into the election of State House Officers, and all the 
Republican nominees were elected, still showing that the posi- 
tion of the Legislature was decidedly Republican. Leaving oat 
all who since their election have been found or declared to be 
ineligible, it will be seen by the estimates made by the Senators 
that they were elected by a majority of the legal voters, those 
who were the Governor's supporters, and who favored the elec- 
tion of State House Officers. In various ways, and especially 
in his published official acts, Governor Bullock did recognize or 
assume that this was the first organization of the General 
Assembh^ General Meade did the same ; Congress did 
the same, at any rate the House of Representatives did, in the 
very act by which certain Representatives from Georgia were 
seated. 

My statement thus far covers about two months of this 
period. From the first meeting of the General Assembly, on 
the fourth day of July, 1868, and after the time that these elec- 
tions were held, many acts were passed by the Legislature, some 
of then: involving great financial interests, and no one ever 
suggested the idea, nor did any one dream that the idea would 
be suggested, that the Legislature was illegally organized, or 
that any act had been done that in the slightest degree vitiated 
its proceedings. 

I'hen, in the month of September, came the expulsion of the 



i;olored members. That act I, and those associated with me, 
regarded as unconstitutional and unjust. We did not defend 
nor excuse it. But we respectfully ask yon to consider the 
charges which have been made against that body by the Gov- 
ernor, and those v^ho act in concert with him. He has evi- 
dently made that ground the salient point from which he has 
reached a result that he would gladly have had some excuse for 
without it. He has made it the occasion for asking Congress 
to pass a law giving into his hands more than extraordinary 
powers, powers which he has seen fit to assume, although the 
act passed by Congress does not grant them. 

The colored members were expelled partW from Republican 
votes, and among them the Speaker of the House of Represen- 
tatives, who was Governor Bullock's favorite candidate in the 
recent election for Speaker Some Republicans voted against 
it and some voted for it, and others refused to vote at all, and 
some of those who voted for the expulsion of these colored 
members and some of those who refused to vote at all, are now 
with his Excellency asking that the former proceedings of the 
Legislature may be set aside as invalid. There are some who 
defended the colored members in the House, and voted against 
their expulsion, and with me they beseech you to see that the 
act of Congress is carried out strictly and in good faith, without 
any violation of its provisions. The Governor has made the 
expulsion of the colored members an occasion for the accom- 
plishment of puposes that lie deeper than was anticipated by 
Congress when it passed the act in December last. It has long 
been manifest to some true Republicans in Georgia, that the 
restoration of the colored members to their seats in the Legis- 
lature was the ostensible object, not only for securing the reor- 
ganization of the Legislature, but the ripping up of every act 
preceding that reorganization ; and he assumes that he has 
the authority, under the recent act, to accomplish that object; 
and he comes here to ask that you tolerate that assumption. 
He has proceeded without a single check in the exercise of his 
purposes, and wishes to still pursue his policy without restraint. 
This assumption is this, that the late act of Congress makes 



the whole State Government of the State of Georgia, under the 
act of Decemher 22, null and void ; that there has been no 
meeting of the Legislature elected in April, 1868, except tbe 
one that was authorized by the late act; that there has been no 
legal election of United States Senators, or State House Offi- 
cers, and that the official term of the members of the Legisla- 
ture must be extended two years beyond what was intended at 
the time of the election. Such is his theory, and a glance at 
the formation of our State Government will most fully illustrate 
the practical effect of this theory. 

There are three Judges of the Supreme Court, seventeen 
Judges of the Superior Court, and the same number of Solici- 
tors General, all of whom are appointed by his Excellency. 
Besides these, there is a large number of notaries public, who 
are ex-officio justices of the peace, appointed by the Governor. 
All these must be removed and their places filled with reap- 
pointments. This is his theory — to overturn our entire judici- 
ary as it has been organized But this is not the worst. We 
have eminent jurists in our State whose reputation is coexten- 
sive with our country. Some of these, and other high officials, 
have become personally objectionable to his Excellency, and 
he wishes you to let him displace them by the practical opera- 
tion of his theory. He would have their places vacated under 
the operation of this act, that he may fill them with his new 
favorites. Sad as are these consequences of the Governor's 
assumption, there are others much more pernicious. A per- 
sonal friend of the Governor's, a member of the Senate, who 
was present the first day of the session, on the 10th day of 
January, was explaining to me what the effect of the Gov- 
ernor's theory would be in regard to the point I have men. 
tioned, and emphasizing the fact that it would involve an exten- 
sion of official terms, and especially the membership of the 
Legislatuie ; he added, with an air of triumph, *' you know that 
members will not vote themselves our. of the Legislature when 
they have a chance to remain in for two years longer." I give 
the substance of the remark, but I have seen that that was the 
effect produced upon the minds of certain members, and we 



know that Governor Bullock is too shrewd a politician not 
to take advantage of such a fact But what influence 
must such a theory exert, and what must be the effect 
upon the Republican party throup^hout the Nation. If Con- 
gress should lend its sanction to such a theory, I trust 
that in the wisdom of your Honorable Committee, measures 
may be devised to avert the calamity that I fear would ensue^ 
It is inconceivable that honorable Senators and Representa- 
tives could ever have meant tha ttbeir laws should^be carried out 
in the way they have. It is inconceivable that they should lend 
the influence of their great name to do only certain things, and 
at the same time have designed that the Governor should do 
other things besides these expressly enjoined. To require 
nothing more of the Legislature than to reseat the colored 
members, and, at the same time, to have another purpose in 
view. It is inconceivable that they should have had the double 
purpose — a purpose that the Governor should use their la^s 
to overthrow the Government that had been previously estab- 
lished. The Governor had no authority from the acts of Con- 
gress to appoint a clerk p7^o tern., to organize the House, to call 
himself a Provisional Governor, nor to treat the Legislature as a 
provisional Legislature, nor to prevent any member from taking 
one of the oaihs prescribed by Congress, nor to call upon the 
military to deteriUine the eligibility of members, nor to put out 
of the Legislature any one whom they might declare ineligible, 
nor to put in their places those who have received the next 
highest number of votes, nor to require the re-ratification of the 
I4th amendment, and yet, without having any of these powers 
conferred upon him by the act, he has been guilty of a flagrant 
violation of the law. 

First. In calling upon the Attorney General to give a written 
opinion as to the scope of the oath required by Congress. 

Second, In endeavoring by the influence of that opinion which 
was published in an Atlanta paper the day before the Legisla- 
ture convened, to deter members from taking the oath who were 
not disqualified by the i4th Amendment This was done, and 
by reason of it, many who in reality were not disqualified, did 



9 

not take tbe oath. The approval and endorsement of the opin- 
ion by General Terry, caused it to assume an importance \Yhich 
would not otherwise have been attributed to it. This opinion 
was promulgated, while the opinions of able lawyers upon the 
subject have been withheld. 

Third. By the appointment of A. L. Harris, one of his Excel- 
lency's employees upon the State Road as Clerk yro iem. to or- 
ganize the House. Each member was sworn to support the 
Constitution. The Code which was adopted by the Constitution^ 
provided how the House should be organized, and the officers 
who should organize it. That Code, in sections 169 and ItO, 
says how the Houses shall be organized 

Fourth. By appointing a Register in Bankruptcy to swear in 
the members The Code requires that they shall be sworn in by 
one of the Supreme Court Judges. 

Fifth By an arbitrary order, directing the Clerk to enter- 
tain no motions of any kiud, even motions pertaining to the 
organization, and by the action of the Clerk in adjourning the 
House from dav to day without a motion from a member, in 
order that tbe organization shall be, as far as possible, subser- 
vient to the schemes of his Excellency. 

Sixth. By his asking fur a military commission to inquire 
into the eligibility of members 

Seventh. By preventing members in both Houses from taking 
the oath who would have been declared eligible. They 
did not take the oath, induced by various threats and persua- 
sions not to take it, but, by the ruling of the board of officers in 
other cases, they would have been declared eligible. They were 
prevented from taking the oath. 

GOVERNOR BULLOCK. How prevented ? 

Mr. CALDWELL. In various ways. I cannot specify them 
in detail now. I desire to finish my argument. I do not wish 
to treat you with any discourtesy. Governor, but my time is 
short, and you will have an opportunity of answering. 

Ninth. By preventing the organization of tbe House by 
causing members who were declared eligible to appear before a 



10 

board of officers not provided for by the law, to sit in judgment 
upon their eligibility. 

Tenth. By causing some who had qualified to be prohibited 
from taking part in the organization of their respectize Houses 

Eleventh By causing two persons, Mr. Wilcher and Mr 
Bennett, who were declared eligible, to be prevented from par- 
ticipating in the organization of the House. 

Twelfth. By calling upon the military under the pretense of 
carrying out the provisions of the Act, no resistance being 
offei'ed to the organization of either House under that Act ; but, 
on the contrary, a!i the members showed a willingness to organ- 
ize in strict conformity to its provisions, and the only objection 
which was interposed was as to the illegal manner of the 
proceedings. 

Thirteenth. By the manner in which he suffered, I do not say 
that he did it himself, but the way he suffered persons to be 
intimidated, and thus preventing them from qualifying, as is 
illustrated in the case of some of the members who became 
apprehensive of being harrasscd by prosecutions if they should 
take the oath. Inducements were held out to some of them, 
which caused them unwarily to commit themselves to a position 
which implies their own ineligibility. They were advised to 
make application to Congress for relief from political disabilities. 
Promises were held out to them that Congress would relieve 
them, and they could then take their seats. And they were 
not aware of the fact that their applying to be relieved of their 
political disabilities disqualified them until General Terry 
assented to an order declaring that such applications were evi- 
dences of ineligibility. 

Fourteenth. By allowing a Senator who had taken the oath, 
to withdraw the same from the office of the Secretary of iState, 
when its removal would be evidence in an action for perjury. 

Fifteenth. By admitting persons in both Houses to seats in 
both Houses who have not been elected by a po|)ular majority, 
the only shadow of law for such a proceeding being found in 
section 121 of the Code, to which! refer your Honorable Com- 



n 

mittee To be brief, this section does not cover iiiemb' rs of the 
Lagislature, for the f<)lh:>wing reasons . 

First. Tiie officers referred to ia this section are executive 
officers, entrusted with the execution of laws. They arc not 
legislators charged with the making of laws. The Code is 
divided into parts, each part into titles, each title into chapters, 
chapters into articles, articles into sections, some of the sections 
have several subdivisions, as section 120, the one immediately 
preceding the one in question, and closely connected with it. This 
seciiun is in Title III, which is head«-d "Executive Department." 
Title IV is the " Legislative Department," which shows no 
such provision. 

Second. The oflBcers alluded to are such as are elected by a 
plurality, but there is no law in Georgia which says that a plu- 
rality may elect a member of the Legislature. There are 
learned judges here with his Excellency to-day, and I challenge 
them to point out in our Code any such law of force in the 
State of G-eorgia to-day. 

Third. The officers whose places may be filled by person 
having the next highest number of votes, must be found to be 
ineligible under one of the rules laid down in section 120 — the 
section immediately preceding the one in question — and if foucd 
qualified, are declared to be eligible. The 14th Amendment is 
not enumerated among them. Our Code was adopted before 
that article came up. 

Fourth. It is unconstitutional to apply this section to amem- 
berof the Legislature, for the Constitution gives each House 
the sole right to pass upon the qualification of its own members. 
Neither the Oodv^, nor any legislative enactment can deprive 
members of that right. 

Fifth. The officers referred to are such as are commissioned. 
Members of the Legislature are not commissioned. 

Sixth. There is no precedent in the history of parliamentary 
proceedings for such action. 

Ques. How was it that those who received the next highest 
number of votes obtained their seats in the last orgniza- 
tion ? 



Mr. CALDWELL The Legislature was addressed by a 
message from the Governor requiring it, and then they were 
seated by the majority, against all the remonstrance and argu- 
ment that could be brought by the minutes as it was first 
organized 

Mr. BRYANT. It was done by the previous question. 

Mr. CALDWELL. Finally, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen 
of the Committee, I beseech you, in behalf of my fellow citi- 
zens, to save the people of Georgia from the consequences of so 
many flagrant violations of the law 1 ask that the wrongs 
inflicted by ihe Governor may be redressed. I beseech you not 
to suffer the flnancial interests of a great people to be placed in 
the hands of one who has shown such a reckless disregard of 
law. I pray you to rescue our State from wrong and degreda- 
tiau that has scarcely any equal. 

I thank you, gentlemen of the Committee, for your courtesy 
and indulgence in permitting me thus to express before you the 
sentiments of my people. 

The CHAIRMAN. You can have your argument printed 
and presented to the Committee in that way. 

Mr. CALDWELL. There is one correction that I would lik 
to make concerning a section of the Code. 

The CHAIRMAN. You can correct it before it is printed. 

Mr. BRYANT. Before beginning my argument, I wish to 
hta:e in regard to this motion regarding the message of his 
Excellency the Governor, proposing to seat members in the 
place of those who had been declared ineligible. 

Wero.-e to a point of order that the motion could not be 
entertained. That point the Speaker decided against us. W^e 
appealed from his decision, and the appeal was sustained by a 
majority. The next morning another resolution was introduced 
by a member of the House, and the leader of the Governor's 
friends in the House made a short speech, in which he said; 
"You see that General Terry WdUts this done, and we tell you," 
(I give the substance of his words,) "that if you don't do it you 
will suffer from the military, and you have suffered from the 
military long enough." 



I:] 

In behalf of the State of Georgia, the Republican party, and 
the General Assembl}^ of that State, I apjiear before you today 
to inform jou that the Act of Conirress, passed the 22d day of 
December, to promote reconstruction in the State of Georgia 
has been violated in the organization of the Legislature, and 
ask that you prove to the people of the country and t ' the 
people of Georgia, that you require Republicans as well as 
Democrats to obey your laws. 

My friend, Mr. Caldwell, referred to the reasons which 
prompted you to pass the Act of December 22 The recon- 
struction acts were violated by the General Assembly of Georgia. 
Legally elected members of the Legislature were excluded 
from seats in that body, and men not entitled to their seats 
were admitted and allowed to participate in its proceedings Mr. 
Caldwell and myself were the only white membtrs of the House 
of Representatives who made speeches against the expulsion of 
the colored members. We voted ngainst their expulsion. We 
protested against the action of the House in expelling them, 
But we were opposed to the effort of Governor Bullock to re- 
quire members ef the General Assembly to take the test oath, 
or the iron-clad eath, as it was familiarly called. We opposed 
the bill introduced in the House by Mr. Butler, but we favored 
the bill introduced into the Senat?e by Senator Edmunds and 
Senator Carpenter. In other words, we desired that Congress 
should pass an act by which the colored members should be re- 
seated, and those who were ineligible under the 14th amend- 
ment .should be excluded, but we were opposed to any further 
congressional action. 

In conformity with the provisions of the law of Congress passed 
December last, to promote reconstruction in Georgia, Governor 
Bullock issued his proclamation, summoning all members elected 
under the proclamation of General Meade, to appear on the 
10th day of January, at Atlanta, for the purpose of organizing 
^n conformity with such act of Congress. Section 1st of this 
act the committee will remember. 

The persons named in ihe above act had reference to the 
persons elected to the General Assembly of Georgia, as ap- 



14 

pears by the proclamation of General Meade, and the act 
declares that when they meet they shall proceed forthwith to 
perfect their organization. The exact language is, ''And there- 
upon the said General Assembly shall proceed to perfect its 
organization, in conformity with the Constitution and Laws of 
the United States, and according to the provisions of this act." 
In violation of this act, Governor Bullock directed one A. L. 
Haris, Supervisor of the State Road, beloning to the State of 
Georgia, to act as Clerk, or Speaker j9?^o^e7?i., during the organ- 
ization of the House. Mr. Harris is an appointee of Gov- 
ernor Bullock, and can be removed by the Governor at pleas- 
ure. He was practicalh^ comple'cly under the control of the 
Governor, and by the direction of the Governor, Mr Harris 
assumed the right to adjourn (he House when ho pleased. 
Members were not allowed to participate in the proceedings, 
except to take the oath required. 

B}' direction of Mr Supervisor Harris an attempt w^as made, 
on the 10th day of Januarj^ the day the General Assembly 
convened, to read an opinion of the A ttorney General of the 
State of Georgia, in regard to the ineligibility of members. 
The opinion had been prepared by direction of Governor Bullock, 
for the purpose of hindering pursons duly elected from taking 
the oath. The Attorne}^ Gem^ral is not regarded by the legal 
minds of Georgia as a lawyer of great ability, and, as is well 
known in Georgia, he has been a strong partisan ' of the 
Governor. His opinion was endorsed by the General commanding 
the district of Georgia, General Terry, but the ablest lawyers 
in Georgia, among them Chief Justice Brown and Associate 
Justice Warner, held that the opinion was not good law The 
opinion w^as published in the Atlanta papers, and a copy of the 
paper containing the opinion was placed on the desk of th 
Clerk. 

It was also published in the form of a circular, and a copy 
was enclosed in an envelope and placed on the desk of each mem- 
ber It was currently reported that the Governor w^ould prose- 
cute for perjury any person who took the oath prescribed by 
Congress who were, in the opinion of the Attorney General of 



15 

the State, ineligible, although they might be deemed eligible bj 
the ablest lawyers in the State. It was also announced that 
able counsel had been retained to prosecute those men It was 
understood that Governor Bullock had prepared a list of per- 
sons whom he had declared ineligible, and if any of those per- 
sons wh<>se names were oq the black list should take the oath, 
they would be prosecuted A cohn-ed member was selected to 
present protests against all persons taking the prescribed oath 
whose names were on the list aforesaid, should any of them 
attempt to do so. The members were required by Governor 
Bullock to take the oath publicly, although many of them had 
taken these oaths and filed them in the office of the Secretary 
of State, as required by law. I have been unable to find in the 
act of Congress any authority for this interference on the part 
of the Governor. As the members whose names were on 
the black list came up to the Clerk's desk to take the oath 
prescribed by Congress, the colored member mentioned above 
presented a protest, which was read. These protests were 
printed, and had been carefully prepared beforehand. It is 
fully believed that the object of reading the opinion of the 
Attorney General, the reading of the protests, and the threat 
of prosecution for perjury, were intended to hinder and inter- 
rupt members from taking the prescribed oaths I know that 
many who could have conscientiously done so were deferred 
from taking the oath from the fact that they were unable to 
bear the expense of a trial for perjury, and the mental excite- 
ment consequent to the trial. It is impossible for me to con- 
vey any correct idea of the means resorted to b\ the Governor 
and his friends to prevent the members of the General Assem- 
bly from taking the oaths prescribed. His proceeding in ap- 
pointing an employee of his own to organize and preside over 
the organization of the liCgislature of Georgia, his attempt to 
prevent men from committing perjury by the reading of the 
opinion of the Attorney General, the reading of the protests, 
and by other means, which it was necessary to see to under- 
stand. It is impossible for me to describe it. He appointed 
Mr. Harris, a man known to be an officer under him upon the 



16 

State road at that moment. There was Foster Blodgett, a 
man under indictment for perjury in the United States Court 
for having falsely taken the iron-chxd oath, and it was for that 
reason, I suppose, he determined his friends should not be sim- 
ilarly situated. I do not believ^e that the proceeding was ac- 
cording to the law passed by Congress. I objected to the 
course pursued. As a nan, as a Union soldier, as a Republi- 
can, I felt that the Republican party and Congress were being 
used to further the interests of a body of men. I lov^e the cause 
advocated by the Republican party as I do my life. I perilled 
my life on the battle-field. I love the part}^ that adhered to 
the Government during the dark days of the rebellion almost as 
I do the flag of my country, and I could not see designing 
men use the party fer the purpose, as I thought, of gratifying 
their ambition, and plundering my adopted State. As a north- 
ern man, as a Union soldier I was indignant when I saw my 
party disgraced in the eyes of Southern men, some of whom 
had foiight in the Confederate army, and that the whole scheme 
was under the control of a man then under indictment for per- 
jury, who had foug:ht in the rebellion, and assisted in organiz- 
ing a vigilance committee to murder Northern men. Mr Harris 
would not recognize my right to speak, although I was duly 
elected a member of the House ; and he had no legal right to 
be where he was. I disputed his right to dictate to me, a rep- 
resentative of the people, and he instructed an officer, whom he 
called the Seageant-at-arms, to arrest me, I refused to be ar- 
rested by them, and one of them drew a pistol and threatened 
to shoot me. There was a scene of confusion which it is use- 
less for me to attempt to describe. It is said that I was ex- 
cited ; I presume I was, if the indignation which I felt mani- 
fested itself upon my features A committee was appointed to 
wait upon General Terry. He pronounced their proceedings 
outrageous, and prevented the further reading of protests One 
of the men, I say, who took the part of presiding officer over 
the organization of the House, was an officer of the State Road, 
under Governor Bullock, a man not duly elected member of the 
House of Representatives ; and yet that man was there acting 



17 

without any authority of law, and assuming to dictate to us ; 
a man who had no right there whatever. Do you ask why we 
permitted these men to hold their positions there ? I answer 
that General Terry gave Governor Bullock the support of the 
military, with which he was safe. Suppose that ex-Presideut 
Johnson, a few months ago, when he opposed the policy of 
Congress, had been able to enforce his views by the power of 
the military, what would have been the result ? General Terry 
put a stop to some of the illegal and arbitrary acts of Harris, 
but for many days he delayed the organization, and refused to 
allow the House to perfect its organization in conformity with 
the law provided by the acts of Congress. The organization of 
the House would have been perfected in two days but for the 
illegal interference of Governor Bullock. The law of Congress 
was openly and willfully violated. 

Section fourth, you remember. If I understand that section, 
says all persons elected to the General Assembly, as appears 
by the proclamation of General Meade, who complied with the 
provisions of the act by taking the prescribed oaths, were en- 
titled to participate in the reorganization of the General As- 
sembly. It will be noticed that section first of said act pro- 
vides that the persons, as appears by the proclamation of Gen- 
eral Meade, shall organize in order that the prescribed oaths 
may be taken. Section four provides that the persons elected 
as aforesaid, who shall have complied with the provisions of 
the act by taking one of the oaths prescribed in said act, shall 
reorganize it. It appears clearly to my mind, that the only 
thing was to allow the persons named in the said proclamation 
of General Meade, to organize for the purpese of swearing in 
the members, and that those of the persons named in said 
proclamation, who took the prescribed oaths, should proceed to 
reorganize by the election of the proper officers. If that is not 
its meaning, then I do not understand its meaning. But this 
" was prevented by Governor Bullock and Mr. Harris, and Gen- 
eral Terry, who sustained them. I do not mean to say any- 
thing against General Terry. I consider him a high-toned 
gentleman. I do not believe that he was in this ring at all. 



18 

Governor Bullock and his allies usurped their authority. Gen- 
eral Terry organized a military commission to inquire into the 
eligibility of the members of said General Assembly, who 
had, in conformity with law, taken the prescribed oath, and it 
was ordered that certain members should not parMcipate in the 
proceedings of the Senate and House of Representatives. 

Governor BULLOCK. I would beg leave to interrupt 
you a moment. I think, in making use of the term military 
commission, you do a very great injustice to General Terry- 
It is well-known by everybody that it was simply an advisory 
board of officers convened for the purpose of inquiring into the 
facts, and in nowise a military commission 

Mr. BRYANT. The act provides that the members of the 
House and Senate, who shall have been duly elected from their 
several districts, shalL after taking the oaths prescribed, pro- 
ceed to organize the General Assembly. Three members of 
the House and two members of the Senate, who had been duly 
qualified, were declared ineligible by this military commission, 
and were not allowed to participate in the organization of 
their respective houses. 

I have examined the act of Congress in vain to find there 
authority for the military commander to organize a military 
commission for such a purpose. Before the General Assembly 
was organized persons were allowed to take their seats. Before 
it was reorganized some members were not allowed to take 
their seats, and some other persons were admitted upon the 
ground that they had the next highest number o' votes. That 
was in violation of the law of Congress and of the law of 
Georgia, as Mr. Caldwell has already shown. 

Thus has your authority been defied, thus has law been vio- 
lated, and thus has the General Assembly been illegally organ- 
ized. We appear before you to ask that you will vindicate 
your authority; that you will not allow any person willfully to^ 
violate your laws, no matter what may be his position. 

General Terry is a man for whom I have high regard, I may 
almost say afi'ection ; but if he were my brother I would not 
approve of his acts if he violated one of your laws. I am una- 



19 

ble to account for the course of General Terry. If he has vio- 
lated the law, it has been because, in the name of loyalty and 
right, he has been induced to do what, in my own opinion, I 
could not have done under similar circumstances. A distin- 
guished officer of the Republic, no man admires his course 
during the war more than myself; but I cannot believe that his 
course will be sustained, distinguished an officer as he is. 

A committee of Republican citizens of Georgia, several of 
whom are members of the General Assembly of the State has 
come to Washington for the purpose of informing Congress 
that the act to promote reconstruction in the State of Georgia 
has been violated, and to ask that the General Assembly may be 
reorganized in accordance with the law. 

Mr. Caldwell and myself appear before you to.day represent- 
ing that committee. It has been said that we come to Wash- 
ington a self-constituted committee ; that we appear here on 
our own responsibility ; that the people of Georgia, Democrats 
and Republicans, are tired of reconstruction, and want no fur- 
ther Congressional legislation. I pronounce this statement 
false, no matter from whom it may come. The great mass of 
our people have been shocked by the acts of Governor Bullock, 
and we must confess frankly that we have little hope that Con- 
gress will interfere and sustain the Republican party in Geor- 
gia, such men as Chief Justice Brown, a distinguished gentle- 
man and able lawyer and jurist, and Joshua Hill, that great 
Union man There 9.re two Republican organizations in Geor- 
gia. We represent one of these organizations, the National 
Union Republican Club of Georgia, which numbers among its 
members, many of the ablest Republicans of the State. We 
are Republigans, and not Democrats ; and as Republicans, we 
are opposed to usurpation of Republican principles. I am 
chairman of the committee, and am one of the legal members of 
the General Assembly, and I come to you to-day and say that 
our General Assembly has been illegally organized, and that we 
desire it shall be reorganized according to law. 

Ii is natural that you should ask why we oppose the policy 
of Governor Bullock. I answer, that the Republican party in 



20 

Georgia believes that there are two objects aimed at in this ille- 
gal proceeding on the part of the Governor : First, the election 
to the United States Senate of Foster Blodgett, a man that is 
now under indictment for perjury before the United States 
Court ; to ask you, gentlemen, to put the State in such a posi- 
tion that a man now under indictment for perjury shall be 
elected to the Senate of this country — a man about whom I 
have an affidavit in my possession, and I have the testimony of 
citizens of Augusta, about whose veracity there can be no ques- 
tion, showing that he assisted in organizing a vigilance commit- 
tee for the purpose of murdering Union men Is this a man to 
be chosen to the United States Senate ? Yet this is one of the 
objects contemplated by Governor Bullock and his friends. 
Will you allow this to be, gentlemen ? 

I believe another object is, the paying for a building in At- 
lanta, known as the " Opera House," in such a way that the 
ring can make money. I make this statement not unadvisedly. 
We are prepared with the proofs, if you desire it. I believe 
that they wish to cover financial operations which they cannot 
explain. They wish to get rid of the State Treasurer by their 
sweeping reorganization of State House officers, so that they 
can put their hands in the treasury and carry out their financial 
operations and schemes On one side of the Republican party 
here, are Governor Bullock, Judges Parrott, Harrell, and Gib- 
son, Mr. Conley, Mr. Tweedy, Foster Blodgett — Mr. Nunnally 
is a democrat. I hardly know where to place him yet. On the 
other side are Dr. Angier, Mr. Bowles, Mr. Osgood, Mr Wil- 
liams, and myself. With the exception of Mr. Caldwell, who 
was a minister during the war, and did not participate, we were 
all Union men. Two of us were Union soldiers, and officers of 
a colored regiment. Dr. Angier had nothing w^hatever to do, 
with the rebellion. His office was the headquarters at Atlanta 

for Union men before the rebellion. He went north and 
remained during the rebellion. Mr. Williams and Mr. Osgood 
had nothing whatever to do with the rebellion. 

Governor Bullock was on the other side ; was superintendent 
of the Southern Express Company, and aided the rebellion very 



21 

much in that way, Mr. Blodgett was an officer in a rebel com- 
pany. Mr. Tweedy was also an officer in a rebel company. 
Mr. Conley is a Union man, and, I believe, an upright man, and 
I am sorry that he is in bad company. Judge Parrott was also 
an officer in the rebel army during the war. Judge Gibson was 
a rampant rebel. He was colonel of a rebel regiment. He 
was elected as a rebel judge over a Union man, adopted by the 
" b'hoy," the regular rebels ; was considered as being opposed 
to reconstruction, and did nothing for our cause, and was not a 
republican until he went to the Chicago Convention. Grovernor 
Bullock afterwards appointed him judge. 

There has been much said in the ])apers about our committee 
being democrats. As for myself, I never voted anything but a 
republican ticket in my life. My first vote was cast for John 
C. Fremont, and I have voted the republican ticket ever since, 
and always expect to, and I stand here to-day as a republican 
and ask you to sustain us. Unless this is done, you never can 
have a Republican party in Georgia, and, us a member of that 
party, I beg you to consider the matter. 

I thank you, gentlemen of the committee, for the kindness 
and courtesy with which you have listened to me. 

Governor BULLOCK. I do not think that there has been 
anything said here to-day worthy of a reply. If the gentlemen 
would submit the proof of the charges and allegations made 
against me, then I may be ready to reply. The gentlemen have 
seen fit to make me a target for certain accusations and cbiarges, 
and I desire that they will furnish the proof to sustain their 
charges. 

Senator CONKLIXG. There was a hearing before this com- 
mittee upon another occasion, when you were questioned as to 
whether the word "office," as used in section 121 of the Code, 
did or not legally apply to members of the legislature What 
was the ground that you then maintained on this point? 

Governor BULLOCK. The same groimd I maintain to-day ; 
that the Code does not necessarily have anything whatever to do 
with it. 



22 
Bj Mr. CONKLING : 

Q. I asked you what was the ground that you then main- 
tained, as to wheiher a member of the legislature was included 
as an officer under the construction of this section ? 

A. The ground I then maintained, was that it was not in- 
cluded. 

Q. By reason of the Cede ? 

A. Probably. 

Q. Do you mean to say, Governor, that you maintained the 
position here before this committee that section 121 of the 
Code authorized the seating of members of the legislature who 
had received a minority vote ? 

A. I was not questioned upon that point, and did not express 
my opinion. I could make an argument now upon the ques- 
tion of the right of the next highest, if you desire. 

Q. Was it not maintained by you here upon a former occa- 
sion, and by those with you, that under this section of the Code 
the turning out of the colored members, and the placing in their 
stead men who did not receive a majority of the votes, was a 
bdlld usurpation ? 

A. I did ; because t he e.tpul sion of the colored members was 
of itseif wrong. 

Q. Was not the act of the legislature in substitutiug these 
members in the place of the colored men, denounced by you 
here in this room, and those with you, as a bdild usurpation, not 
warranted by the law ? 

A. Admiting that the expulsion of the colored members in 
the first instance was right, it was not I never so considered 
it, and I certainly have never expressed such an opinion upon 
it. It was the opinion of many of the ablest legal minds in the 
State, that it was a legal procedure under the Code to admit in 
the place of members who were found to be constitutionally dis- 
qualified, those persons who received the next highest number 
of votes. 

Q. Did not one of your friends who were with you here, in 
the presence of this committee, give a challenge to any one to 



23 

find in the Code or ahywhere else, any warrant or authority 
for seating in the place of members of the legislature who were 
found to be disqualified, those who received a minority vote ? 

A. The question was broached by tl e Senator from Ver- 
mont, as to whether the members of the legislature were elected 
by a plurality vote. It was denied that there was any part of 
the Code which shewed that members of the legislature werf 
elected by a plurality. 

Q.. Why didn't you state your views frankly to the committee 
at that time. If this thing was legal, right and fair, why didn't 
you say so at that time ? It might have saved some misunder_ 
standing. 

A, I did not so understand it. I did not hold that those per- 
sons who received the next highest number of votes could be 
seated in the place of those colored members held to be disqual- 
ified, under the Code at all. 

Q. Then you don't claim that they should be seated under 
your Code ? 

A. No, sir; the late procedure by the legislature was not 
taken under the Code at all, but under the^imeral law cover- 
ing such cases. I will make t h e ^n g | - oomonf i f i t will not be de- 
taining the committee too long. 

The CHAIRMAN. The Governor means, I presume, that 
under a general parliamentary law, that the voteSof those who 
cast for a disqualified candidate are not counted, and that per- 
son who received the next highest number of votes, if eligible, 
is entitled to take his seat. 

Governor BULLOCK That is the general proposition. I 
do not wish to be understood as holding a different position now 
from that occupied by myself on any former occasion, because 
I never expressed my own opinion as to whether the terms of 
that section might be properly applied to members of the legis- 
lature or not A. very large number, I believe a majority, of 
lawyers in the State of Georgia huid that it does. 
Q. By Mr. Conkling: 

I understood you, and I have no doubt I understood you cor- 



24 

rectlj, that you and your friends maintained two positions upon 
that subject : 1st, the authority of the Code ; and, 2nd, that 
the ;ict of putting men into the legislature who had no majority 
at the polls, was a sheer usurpation ? I have no doubt I un- 
derstood you right. Did you maintain that ground ? 

A. I did, as broadly and firmly as I maintain it to-day. I do 
say that the seating of persons in the places of expelled colored 
members who w<3re not ineligible was a usurpation. 

Mr. CONLEY I would like to state to the committee in 
reference to this Code. There have been some doubts about 
that section of the Code in reference to members of the legisla- 
ture, and as to seating the next highest. I got the opinion of 
the person who codified, Judge Irwin, who is one of the ablest 
jurists in the State He said the same question came up and 
was discussed by the committee appointed to codify the Code, 
and they determined that it applied to members of the legisla- 
ture, and so intended it. 

Governor BULLOCK. I can submit mj^ I'eply to the argu- 
ments read by the gentlemen in writing, at such time as may be 
designated by the committee, but I desire to claim the privilege, 
if an answer is made, of again replying to any new points that 
may arise. 

The CHAIRMAN". In regard to that, I would state to the 
gentlemen, that so far as the transactions of this committee are 
concerned, it is not our custom to listen to any argument what- 
ever, but to confine those who wish to be heard to a plain state- 
ment of facts, and although there has been something like argu- 
ment this morning, yet I would admonish the gentlemen upon 
both sides, that it is not our practice to listen to any arguments, 
and to ask that yuu simply make a plnin statement of your 
facts, and be as brief as possible. 

Mr. STEWART. I wish the gentlemen would make an in- 
dex, giving the names of the voters, and the yeas and nays in 
the first organization of the legislature on the expulsion of the 
negroes and the election of senators, and also the names of the 
voters and the list of yeas and nays in each branch of the pres- 



25 

ent legislature upon the ratification of the 14th and 15th amend- 
ments, and the fundamental conditions. 

Governor BULLOCK. I would ask, as a matter of 
justice to myself, that where allegations are made as to my 
motives, that instead of simply allowing these allegations to go 
on record to be considered by the committee, the gentle- 
men making them be requested to present facts to sustain 
them. 

The CHAIRMAN. It is to be expected. Governor Bullock, 
that the committee will be governed by a sense of propriety in 
regard to charges that are made. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. We are too old to believe jthings until 
they are proven. 

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will adjourn until Satur- 
day, February 12, at 10 o'clock. It is understood that in the 
meantime the arguments upon both sides will be printed, and 
will be submitted at that time. 



Willard's Hotel, 

Washington, D. C, Feb. 10, 18T0. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Judiciary Committee : 

Tbe foregoing pages present the result of a verbatim phono- 
graphic report of the interview which was sought for by 
Messrs. Caldwell and Bryant, to which I was invited by the 
following note : 

Rooms of the CoMMiTTiiE on the Judiciary op the United 

States Senate. 

Washington, Feb. 1, 1870. 

Sir: J. H. Caldwell, C. K. Osgood, and others have applied 
to lay before this committee certain facts in regard to the 
organization of the Legislature and the state of affairs in 
Georgia. The committee has appointed Wednesday next, at 11 
o'clock a. m., to receive them, when you can also attend should 
you think proper, with such others as you may desire. 
Yours, very respectfully, 

Lyman Trumbull, 

Chairman of Committee, 
Gov. RuFus B. Bullock. 

I have caused this report to be made and printed as the basis 
of my communication to the committee at this time, because I 
desire to notice only what was actually and publicly presented 
to the Committee. 

These gentlemen are not here as representatives of any party 



28 

or people, except it may be a faction of the Democratic party 
of our State, who desire to persist in their reactionary disposi- 
tion and to continue their objection to, and contempt of the 
reconstruction measures of Congress. 

Having been advised that it was the purpose of these gentle- 
men to visit the capital, and kaowing their disposition and wil- 
lingness not to hesitate at any measures which would seem to 
promote their peculiar views and purposes, I deemed it a duty 
which I owed to myself as an individual, and to my official 
position, and to the people who have honored me with their 
votes, to place mj^self in a position to act promptly for their 
vindication should it become necessary. 

There is little to be said in reply to all that has been laid 
before the committee, except to enter a general denial of the 
allegations that are made, charging upon me various acts 
which I have never committed, and various motives and pur- 
poses by which I have never been moved. But I will take up 
the specific charges made by Mr. Caldwell, and which are 
introduced by him with a statement, referring to myself, "that 
he has been guilty of a flagrant violation of the law." 

" First. In calling upon the Attorney General to give a written 
opinion as to the scope of the oath required by Congress." 

Absurd. 

"Second, In endeavoring by the influence of that opinion which 
was published in an Atlanta paper the day before the Legislai- 
ture convened, to deter members from taking the oath who were 
not disqualified by the 14th Amendment This was done, and 
by reason of it, many \vho in reality were not disqualified, did 
not take the oath. The approval and endorsenipnt of the opin- 
ion by General Terry, car.sed it to assume an importance which 
would uot otherwise have been attributed to it. This opinion 
was prom ulgn ted, while the opinions of able lawyers upon the 
subject have been withheld." 

The opinion was carefully prepared by the Hon. Attorney 



29 

General, was submitted to the general commanding the district 
of Georgia, and by him pronounced as being, in his judgment 
"a correct exposition of the law." In this communication of 
the general commanding, dated January Sth, he is pleased to 
say further, " I may be permitted to add that I can hardly 
think it possible that any persons who are not qualified to sit in 
the Lcgishiture, will be so unwise as to attempt to take the 
oath, for, aside from the consequences which would result to 
themselves, such a course of action could hardlv fail to impede 
and delay that perfect restoration of the State to its normal 
relations to the General Government which all good citizens 
desire." 

The publication -of this opinion was made so that all persons 
might have the benefit of the fullest advice touching the proper 
legal construction of the laws of the United States, which were 
then about to be enforced And it certainly cannot be claimed 
as improper or a flagrant violation of the law, to give the 
widest publicity to it under a proper legal construction, so that 
all persons may act knowingly and properly under it. The 
opinions of lawyers, either able or otherwise, upon this subject 
have never been withheld by me. 

"Third. By the appointment of A. L. Harris, one of his Excel- 
lency's employees upon the State Road as Clerk pro tern, to or- 
ganize the House. Each member was sworn to support the 
Constitution. The Code which was adopted by the Constitution, 
provided how the House should be organized, and the officers 
who should organize it. That Code, in sections 169 and 170, 
says how the 'Houses shall be orjranized " 

Mr. A. L. Harris was appointed the Clerk pro fern, because of 
his peculiar fitness, from his public experience as a member of 
the Constitutional Convention, and the presiding officer of State 
conventions, and other parlimcntary bodies, to perform the 
duties which v/ere required The appointment of some per? on 
became necessary, from the fact that until each member had 
taken the prescribed oaths, they could not, without violation of 



80 

the act, proceed to reorganize bj the election and qualification 
of the proper officers of each House, and because the general 
commanding the district of Georgia concurred in the opinion 
"that no member can take any part whatever in the organiza- 
tion, until he shall, after the convening of the Legislature have 
taken the prescribed oath before an officer authorized by the 
laws of the United States to administer oaths, and have filed it 
with the Secretary of State, and consequently there must be 
initiatory action on the part of some other authority, such as 
was taken when this same Legislature was first assembled " 

The Code of Georgia has no application to the organization 
of the two Houses, as provided for by the act of December 22- 
But, admitting that the Code did apply, the officers prescribed 
in the Code were not available, the Secretary of the Senate be- 
ing dead, and the Clerk of the House disqualified 

'' Fourth. By appointiog a Register in Bankruptcy to swear in 
the members The Code requires that they shall be sworn in by 
one of the Supreme Court Judges." 

A register in bankruptcy was not appointed to swear in the 
members. A commissioner of the United States Court was re- 
quested to be present and to administer the oaths upon the ap- 
plication of the members, which was done. 

"Fifth By an arbitrary order, directing the Clerk to enter- 
tain no motions of any kind, even motions pertaining to the 
organization, and by the action of the Clerk in adjourning the 
House from day to day without a motion from a member, in 
order that the organization shall be, as far as possible, subser- 
vient to the schemes of his Excellency." 

So soon as all the eligible members had taken the prescribed 
oaths, the members, being so qualified, did proceed to reorgan- 
ize by the election of a Speaker, and the very moment the 
election of the Speaker was decided, the clerk pro tern, vacated 



SI 

his seat. Precisely the same mode of proceedure was had in the 
Senate, and I have vet to hear any complaint touching the man- 
ner of its organization. 



" Sixth. By his asking for a military commission to inquire 
into the eligiloility of members " 



A military commission has never been asked for, nor has one 
ever been organized. 



" Seventh. By preventing members in both Houses from taking 
the oath who would have been declared eligible. They 
did not take the oath, induced by various threats and persua- 
sions not to take it, but, by the ruling of the board of officers in 
other cases, they would have been declared eligible. They were 
prevented from taking the oath." , 



I have not sought or attempted to prevent members in either 
House, who were eligible, from taking the oath, nor have I 
used threats or persuasions upon this or any other subject. Nor 
have I conversed with members upon the subject of their eligi- 
bility, except at their own solicitation, and in response to their 
owu interrogatories. 



** Ninth. By preventing the organization of the House by 
causing members who were declared eligible to appear before a 
board of officers not provided for by the law, to sit in judgment 
upon their eligibility." 

Not true. 



" Tenth. By causing some who had qualified to be prohibited 
from taking part in the organization of their respective Houses." 



Not true as to any member who was eligible. 



32 

" Eleventh. By causiug two persons, Mr. Wileher and Mr 
Bennett, who were declared eligible, to be prevented from par- 
ticipating in the organization of the House." 



Not true. 



" Twelfth. By calling upon the military under the pretense of 
carrying out the provisions of the Act, no resistance being 
offered to the organization of either House under that Act ; but, 
on the contrary, all the members showed a willingness to organ- 
ize in strict conformity to its provisions, and the only objection 
which was interposed was as to the illegal manner of the 
proceedings." 



Not true, either as to calling upon the military, or as to the 
willingness of members to organize in strict conformity to the 
law. 



" Thirteenth. By the manner in which he suffered, I do not say 
that he did it himself, but the way he suffered persons to be 
intimidated, and thus preventing them from qualifying, as is 
illustrated in the case of some of the members who became 
apprehensive of being harrassed by prosecutions if they should 
take the oath. Inducements were held out to some of them, 
which caused them unwarily to commit themselves to a position 
which implies their own ineligibility. They were advised to 
make application to Congress for relief from political disabilities. 
Promises were held out to them that Congress would relieve 
them, and they could then take their seats. And they were 
not aware of the fact that their applying to be relieved of their 
political disabilities disqualified them until General Terry 
assented to an order declaring that such applications were evi- 
dences of ineligibility." 



Not true. I have not "suffered persons," etc., as stated. 



" Fourteenth. By allowing a Senator who had taken the oath, 
to withdraw the same from the office of the Secretary of State, 
when its removal would be evidence in an action for perjury." 



33 

If ray memory serves me aright, this senator was a judge of 

the Inferior Court before the war, and gave aid and comfort to 
the enemies of the United States. Under a misapprehension 
as to what constituted aid and comfort to the enemies of the 
United States, this senator, as I am informed, under advice and 
persuasion, took the oath of office. But, after consideration, he 
felt that he had done so under a misapprehension of the true in- 
tent and meaning of the act, and desired to withdraw from the 
false position in which he had placed himself. As far as it was 
in my power, I aided him in this laudable purpose by communi- 
cating to the Senate the following, under date of January 14th, 
1870: 



'Atlanta, Ga., January 14, 1870. 

" Hon. J. J. Collier, of the county of Dooly, has made appli 
cation to withdraw his oath, taken on the 10th inst., from the 
Secretary of State's office, the oath having been taken by him 
under a misapprehension. 

"As all good citizens unite with the authorities in the desire 
that, in the language of General Grant, ' when reconstruction is 
effected, no loophole is left open to give trouble and embarrass- 
ment hereafter,' and as the objection made by Congress to our 
former attempt at organizing the legislature is founded upon 
the fact that disqualified persons were allowed to participate in 
the proceedings, I have promptly granted the application of 
the Hon. Mr. Collier. 

" The presentation of the name of Judge Collier to the board 
of officers will be withdrawn. 
" Yery respectfully, 

^ -RUFUS B. BULLOCK, 

" Provisional Governor. 
"J. G. W. Mills, Esq., 

" Secretary pro tem.''^ 



" Fifteenth. By admitting persons in both Houses to seats in 
both Houses who have not been elected by a popular majority, 
the only shadow of law for such a proceeding being found in 
section 121 of the Code, to which I refer your Honorable Com- 
mittee " 



34 

Not true. Persons were lecjallj elected by reason of the fact 
that the candidates opposing them in the election, and who re- 
ceived a larger number of votes, were disqualified. 

These persons, some of whom were colored, having good rea- 
son to believe that the prejudice against their color would pre- 
vent members who were disposed to do them justice from vot- 
ing in favor of awarding them their seats, made application to 
myself and the General commanding, to see to it that their 
rights were not denied them. Upon their application, a commu- 
nication was sent by m3^self to the Speaker of the House after 
he had been elected by the qualified members making a reor- 
ganization, reciting the names of all who had made application, 
and upon this information being communicated to the House, 
that body, by a majority of the votes of its own members^ 
promptly granted them their seats 

I arrive at the conclusion that these persons were legally 
elected and entitled to their seats without any regard whatever 
to the Code of Georgia, and base it upon the well established 
rule of law, that it is the duty of the voter to cast his ballot for 
a candidate who is legally qualified to hold the office or position 
to which he desires to elect him, and that where the elector 
votes for a disqualified man, ha knowing, or having bad oppor- 
tunity to know that the candidate for whom he votes is disqual- 
ified, his ballot is a nullity. 

This responds to the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and 
Sixth branches of Mr. Caldwell's fifteenth citation of flagrant vi- 
olations of the law. 

Mr. Caldwell makes a statement in regard to the election o^ 
United States Senators by the former legislative organization, 
which only becomes material if it should be admitted that the 
legislative organization referred to ever legally ratified the Four- 
teenth amendment, and adopted the other conditions required 
by Congress, to entitle the State to representation. I am dis- 
posed to cousiderthe election of Senators as being a part of the 
procedure necessary to restoration ; but an examination in the 
light of the facts as to disqualified members who participated in 



35 

the election renders it quite apparent that neither of these 
gentlemen were elected. 

On page 104 of the Journal of the House of Representa- 
tives, called session of the General Assembly, July 4, 18f)8, here- 
with transmitted, we find that 110 votes were cast for Mr. Joshua 
Hill, 94 for Mr. Joseph E Brown. 1 for Mr. A. H. Stephens, 
and 1 for Mr. C. W. Styles, making a total of 206 Necessary 
to a choice, 104, upon which Mr Hill was declared to have been 
elected. An examination of the persons voting at this time, 
shows that two senators who were disqualified, Messrs. Ander- 
son and Moore, voted for Mr. Hill ; that one senator who was 
disqualified, Mr. Graham, voted for Mr. Styles; that 18 dis. 
qualified members, viz. : Messrs. Burtz, Crawford, Drake, Don- 
aldson, Ellis, of Spalding county, George, Goff, Hudson, John- 
son, of Wilcox county, Kelioirg, Long, McCullough, Meadows, 
Nunn, Penland, Rouse, Taliaferro, and Williams, of Dooly 
county, voted for Mr, Hill ; and that two disqualified members. 
Messers. Brassell and Surrency, voted for Mr. Brown, making 
23 disqualified members who participated in the election. 

Take this number, 23, from the 206 votes cast, and it will 
leave 183 qualified votes. Necessary to a choice, 92. Take 
the 20 disqualified votes cast for Mr, Hill from his total number 
of 110, and it leaves him with but 90 legal votes, being two 
less than is necessary to elect. 

A similar examination may be made of the vote for Mv. Miller, 
on page 106. Some typographical error seems to have occurred 
in summing up the number of votes received by each of the can- 
didates. An examination of the list of names discloses for Mr. 
Blodgett IS, for Mr. Miller, lit, for Mr. Seward, 12, and for Mr 
Akerman. 1, making a total of 209. Necessary to a choice, 105. 

In this election, four senators who were disqualified voted for 
Mr. Miller, namely, Messers. Anderson, Graham, Moore, and 
Winn, and 21 members who were disqualified also voted for Mr. 
Miller, namely, Messrs. Brassell, Burtz, Crawford, Drake, Don- 
aldson, Ellis, of Spalding, George, Goff, Hudson, Johnson, of 
Wilcox, Kellogg, Long, McCullough, Meadows, Nunn, Penland^ 
Rouse, Smith, of Coffee, Surrency, Taliaferro, and Williams, of 



36 

Dooly, making a total of 25 disqualified members who partici' 
pated in the election. 

Take this number. 25, from the 209 votes cast, and it will 
give us 184 legal votes, of which 93 were necessary to a choice. 
Take these 25 disqunlified votes received by Mr. Miller from his 
in, and it will leave him 92 legal votes, one less than is neces- 
sary to a choice. 

There is very little, if anything, new in the remarks of Mr. 
Bryant, certainly nothing demanding extended attention. 

The bare assertions of improper conduct on my part cannot 
be noticed further than to say that when any kind of proof is 
offered in substantiation of such charges, 1 shall be prepared to 
meet it. 

I have already invited the General Assembly to appoint a 
Joint Oommittee to investigate any charges that had been or 
might be made against me. The State Senate adopted a reso- 
lution to appoint such a committee, but on a motion to suspend 
the rules for this purpose, in the House, these people and the 
party with which they affiliate voted in the negative, and the 
motion was defeated. 

The organization of the House was provided for, in pre- 
cisely the same manner as in the Senate, and we find the objec- 
tion to the organization of the House, coming exclusively from 
defeated aspirants for official positions under that organization 

In the Senate all the members seem to have promptly and 
quietly acquiesced in the organization. 

Mr. Bryant claims to represent a certain political club, the 
officers and the rank and file of which are, as I am credibly in- 
formed, all here, and which does not exceed a dozen persons in 
number. Certainly Mr. Bryant will not attempt to deny that 
before leaving Augusta, on the 4th, he communicated to his 
Democratic friends in Atlanta, asking for the assistance of Mr. 
Dunlap Scott, of Floyd county, Mr. Senator Burns, Senator 
Candler, and others, requesting that a delegation should be sent 
to Washington, of the ablest men, from all parts of the State. 



87 

It is unnecessary to add that there has been no such response 
to his wishes. 

Mr. Br3'ant also seems to object to the fact that I have ap- 
pointed to office persons who have participated in the rebellion. 
It is true that I have made such appointments ; but they have 
been of gentlemen v^;^ho were marked in their respective commu- 
nities for their high position, worth, intelligence and integrity. 
Men who, having surrendered in good faith at the close of the 
rebellion, united with the friends of Congress in promoting the 
reconstraction of civil government under Congressional enact- 
ments. Such men have been appointed, and, should it be in ray 
power, they will be again. 

If the men of worth and intelligence in the Southern States 
are to be perpetually excluded from official position because of 
their action during the rebellion, the State gove.nments there 
established would be reduced to the unfortunate condition of 
being dependent upon persons without visible means of support, 
and of uncertain habitation, with little or no material interest in 
the country, to fill positions reqniring a high order of intelli- 
gence, integrity, and security. 

It is also alleged bv each of these gentlemen, that the opin- 
ions entertained by myself of the legal relations existing be- 
tween the State government and the reconstruction acts, in- 
volves an extension of the terms for which the members of the 
legislature were elected. I am rather astonished that the men 
who make a boast of being the only white men who objected to 
the expulsion of the negroes from the body, should be the first 
to claim that the terms for which these men were elected, should 
be curtailed by the revolutionary action of the disqualified rebels 
who expelled them. 

My views upon this branch of the subject, as upon any other 
of a public character, have not been withheld, and as they were 
only recently presented to the Representatives in the General 
Assembly and to the countr}^ in a message, covering the 
whole subject as I understand it, the same is herein repeated 
and reaffirmed : 



38 

To the Senate and House of Representatives 

of the Provisional Legislature : 

A correspondence with the 3lajor General Commanding this Dis- 
trict is herewith transmitted, by which ^^ou will be informed that your 
organization is recognized from to-day as being one properly prepared 
to enter upon the action required by the several reconstruction acts of 
Congress. 

Atlanta, Ga., February 1, 1S70. 

Brevet Major General A. H. Terry ^ Commanding District of Georgia : 

General : I have the honor to report that a Joint Committee from 
the t wo Houses of the Provisional Legislature have informed me that 
the Senate and House have perfected an organization by the election of 
the proper officers, after excluding from the roll of members persons 
disqualitied under the Acts of Cono-ress from holding office. The two 
Houses stand in recess until Wednesday next, tlie 2d instant, at 
12 m. 

I am. General, very respectfully. 

KUFUS B. BULLOCK, 

Provisional Governor. 



Headql\\rters Military District of Georgia, 

Atlanta, Ga., February 2, 1870. 
Hon. R. B. Bullock. 

Provisional Governor State of Georgia : 

Governor : I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of yom- com- 
munication of 5'esterday informing me that a* Joint Committee of tlie 
two Houses of the Legislature lias informed you that the Senate and 
House of Representatives have each perfected an organization by the 
election of the proper officers. In reply to it I have the honor to say 
tiiat I think that the Houses are now properly organized for the pur- 
pose of assenting to and complying with the conditions imposed by 
Congress for the restoration of the State to its original relations with 
the nation. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

ALFRED H. TERRY, 
Brevet Major General Commanding. 
Headquarters Military District of Georgia, 
Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 2, 1S70. 
Official ; 

J. H. TAYLOR, 

Assistant Adjutant General. 



39 

That a proper understanding may be had of your present political 
condition, and our status under the several acts of Congress, which 
have, from time to time, been adopted for the purpose of securing the 
establisinnent of State Governments, repnblican in form, in this and 
other of the late rebel States, it is important to review those acts, and 
to carefully consider what has been done by ourselves towards a com- 
pliance with their provisions. 

Such a re\dew will establish the fact that the present legislative 
organization, if accepted and ratified by Congress, is the first and only 
legal organization dejure of this Legislature, and of the State Govern- 
ment, established by the votes of the people under the reconstruction 
acts ; and that this oi-gauization is based exclusively upon the election 
iield under tlie order of tlie district commander on the 20tli, ■21st. 22d^ 
and 23d days of April, 1868. 

By an act of Congress, which became a law .March 2, 1807, it is pro- 
vided that — 



Whereas no legal State Governments or adequate protection for life 
or property now'exist in the rebel States of Virginia, Xortli Carolina, 
Soutli Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana. Florida, 
Texas, and Arliansas ; and 

Wiiei-eas it is necessary that peace and good order should be enforced 
in said States until loyal and republican State Governments can be 
legally established ; tlierefore. 

Be 'it enacted, §'C., Tliat said rebel States shall be divided into mili- 
tary districts, and made subject to tlie military autliorit,y of the United 
States, as hereinafter mentioned ; and for that purpose Virginia shall 
constitute the First District ; North Carolina and South Carolina the 
Second District ; Georgia, Alabama, and Florida tlie Third District ; 
Mssissippi and Arkansas the Fourth District; and Louisiana and 
Texas the Fifth District. 

Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the President to assign to the 
command of each of said districts an officer of the army not below the 
rank of brigadier general, and to detail a sufficient military force to 
enable sucli officer to perform his duties, and enforce liis authority 
within the district to which he is assigned. 

Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of each officer assigned as aforesaid 
to protect all persons in their riohts of person and V^'op^i'ty^ to sup- 
press insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or cause to be 
punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals ; and to this 
end he may allow local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and try 
offenders, or when, in his judgment, it may be necessary for the trial 
of ortenders, he shall have "power to organize millitary commissions or 
tribunals for that purpose ; and all interference under color of State 
authority with tlie exercise of military authority under this act shall be 
null ancl void. 

Sec. 4. That all persons put under military arrest by virtue of this 
act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual 
punishment shall be inflicted, and no sentence of any military' com- 



40 

mission or tribunal hereby authorized aftecting the life or liberty of 
any person shall be executed until it is approved by the officer in com- 
mand of the district; andtlie laws and reg'ulations for the government 
of the army sliall not be« affected bj" this act, except in so far as tiiey 
may conflict with its provisions. 

Sec. 5. Tiiat when the people of any one of said rebel States shall 
have formed a constitution and government, in conformity witli the 
Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by a conven- 
tion of delegates elected by tlie male citizens of said State, twenty-one 
years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, 
who have been residents in said State for one year previous to tlie day 
of such election, except such as may be disfranchised for participation 
in tlie rebellion, or for felony at common law, and wlien such consti- 
tution sliall provide that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all 
such persons as have the qualifications herein stated for electors of 
delegates, and wlien such constitution sliall be ratified hj a majority 
of the persons voting on the question of ratification, who are qualified 
as electors for delegates, and when such constitution shall have been 
submitted to Congress for approval, and Congress shall have approved 
the same, and when said State, by a vote of its Legislature, elected 
under said constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the 
Constitution of the Uuited States j)roposed bj' the Thirty-ninth Con- 
gress, and known as Article Fourteen, and ^vllen said article shall have 
become part of the Constitution of the United States, said State shall 
be declared entitled to representation in Congress, and Senators and 
Representatives shall be admitted therefrom on their taking the oath 
prescribed by law^, and then and therefore the preceding sections of 
this act shall be inopei-ative in said State. 

Provided, That no person excluded from the privilege of holding 
office by said proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States, shall be eligible to election as member of the Convention to 
frame a Constitution for any of said Kebel States ; nor shall any such 
person vote for members of such Convent: on. 

Sec. 6. That until the people of tlie said Ttebel States shall by law be 
admitted to repres(nitation to the Congr< ss of the United States, the 
civil Governments that maj" exist thereiii sliall be deemed provisional 
only, and shall be in all respects subject to tne paramount authority of 
the United States any time to abolish, modify, control and supersede 
the same, and in all elections to any office under such Provisional Gov- 
ernment, all persons shall be entitled to vote, and none others, who 
are entitled to vote under the provision of the fifth section of this act. 
And no person shall be eligible to any office under such Provisional 
Governments who would be disqualified from holding office under the 
provisions of the third article of said Constitutional Amendment. 



Under this, and supplemental acts, an election was held on the 29tli, 
30th, and 31st of October, and the 1st and 2d of November, 1867, for 
delegates to assemble in convention and to form a Constitution. The 
delegates then elected assembled in convention at Atlanta on the 9th 
day of December, and after framing a Constitution and adopting cer- 
tain ordinances, adjourned on the llth of March, 1868. 



41 

An election for the ratification of the Constitution so framed, for 
members of a leo:islatnre. Governor, &c., was held on tlie 20tli, 21st, 
22d and 23d days of April, 1SG8, and resulted in tlie i-atification of tlie 
Constitution b}' a large majoiity of the voters, and also in the election 
of members of the Legislature, Governor, &c. 

The result of this election was proclaimed by tlie Commander of the 
District, in General Order No. 90, dated June 25, 1868, and in accord- 
ance witli the followiuo- act of Cono-ress : 



AN ACT to admitthe State^t of North Carolina. South Carolina, Lou- 
isiana^ Georgia, Alabama and Florida, to representation in Congress : 

Whereas the people of North Carolina, South Cai'olina, Louis- 
iana, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, have, in pursuance of the provis- 
ions of an act entitled "An act for the more efficient government of 
the rebel States," passed March 2d, 1867, and the acts supplemental 
thereto, framed constitutions of a State ^government, which are repub- 
lican, and have adopted said constitutions by large majorities of the 
votes cast at the elections held for the ratification or repealing of the 
same : Therefore, 

Be it enacted. That each of the States of IS'orth Carolina, South Car- 
olina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, shall be entitled and 
admitted to representation in Congress as a State of the Union, when 
the Legislature of such State shall have duly ratified the amendment to 
the Constitution of the United States, proposed by the Thirty-ninth 
Congress, and known as Article 1--, upon the following fundamental 
conditions : 

Section 1st. That the Constitution of neither of said States shall 
ever be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen, or class of 
citizens, of the United States of the right to vote in said State who are 
entitled to vote by the Cjnstitution thereof herein recognized, except 
iis a punishment of such crimes as are now felonies at common law, 
whereof they shall have been duly convicted under laws equally appli- 
cable to all tlie inhabitants of said States ; Pro'okled, That any altera- 
tion of said Canstitutions, prospective in its effect, may be made with 
regard to the tin^e and place of residence of voters ; and the State of 
Georgia shall onl}- be entitled and admitted to representation upon this 
further fundamental condition : That the tirst and third sub-divisions 
of Section 17 of the 5th Article of the Constitution of said State, except 
the proviso to the first sub-division, shall be null and void, and that the 
General Assembly of said State, by solemn public act, sliall declare the 
assent of the State to the foregoing fundamental condition. 

Sec. 2. That, if the day fixed for the first meeting of the Legislature 
of eitlier of said States by the Constitution or ordinance thereof shall 
have passed, or so nearly arrived, before the passage of this act, tiiat 
there shall not be time for the Legislature to assemble at the period 
fixed, such Legislature shall convene at the end of twenty days from 
the time this act takes eilect, unless the Governor elect shall sooner 
convene the same. 

Sec, 3. That the First Section of this act shall take effect as to eacla 



42 

State, except Georgia, when such State shall, by its T^^egislature, duly 
ratify Article XIV of the amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States proposed by th(^. Thirty-ninth Congr-ess, and as to the State of 
Georgia when it shall, in addition, give the assent of said State to the 
fundamental condition hereinbefore imposed upon the same ; and 
thereupon tlie ollicers of each State duly elected and <piidified under 
the Constitution thereof sliall be inaugurated witliout dela}^ ; but no 
person prohibited from holding office under the United States or under 
any State by Section 3 of the proposed amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States, known as Article XIV, shall be deemed eligible 
to any office in either of said States, unless relieved from disability as 
provided in said amendment; and it is hereby made the duty of the 
President witnin ten days after recei\ing official information of tlie 
ratification of said amendment by tlie Legislature of eitliei' of said 
States, to issue a proclamation announcing that fact. 



which became a law June 2oth, 1S6S. The members of the Legislature 
so elected were by the proclamation of the Governor elect convened in 
Atlanta on the 4th day of July, 18GS. 

On the same date the Governor elect was appointed Provisions 
Governor by the Commander of the district, under General Order No, 
91, dated June 28th, 1868. 

This act of Congress authorizing the assembling of the Legislaturer 
it will be observed, required that 



"No person prohibited from holding office, under the United States, 
or under any State, b}^ section 3 of the proposed amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States l-:nown as Article XIV, shall be 
deemed eligible to any office in t-iiUer oi said States, unless relieved 
from disability as provided in said amendment." 



The Legislature thus convened having been organized under the 
orders of the Commanding General Avithout inquiring into the eligibility 
of its members as required by this act of Congress, his attention was 
called to the fact that persons disqualified by that act were then sitting^ 
and acting as members ; whereupon the Commanding General directed 
the body to examine into the subject of the eligibility and proper 
qualification of its members ; and upon a resolution being adopted in 
each House that all the then sitting members were eligible and quali- 
fieJ, the Commanding General authorized the body to proceed with the 
legislative action required by the several laws of Congress to which 
referenc? has been made. 

This legislative action was taken on the 21st of Julj", 1868, in appa- 
rent good faith, and members of Congress who were elected, as provi- 
ded by an ordinance of the Constitutional ConventioDrto the Forty-firs^ 



43 

Congress, ^^■ere admitted to the last session of the Fortieth Congress upon 
presentation of certificates from the District Commander that they had 
received the highest number of votes in their respective districts. This 
admission occurred in Juh% 18GS, and Congress adjourned on the 25th 
of the same month. 

The Legislature, on the 29th of July. 1808, proceeded to the election 
of United States Senators, when, by uniting the entire vote of the dis- 
qualified members and tlie members who were opposed to the Congres- 
sional policy of reconstruction, with a few wdio had assumed to favor it, 
Messrs. Hill and Miller were declared to have been elected Senators, 
the former for the term ending March 4th, 1873, the latter for the term 
ending March 4th, 1871. Altnough, as has since been disclosed, if the 
twent)'-five or more disqualified men had been excluded, neither of 
these gentlemen could have been elected, Mr. HilPs majority on joint 
ballot having been but seven and Mr. Miller's hut foiw teen. 

Tliis action having been taken and the District Commander having 
issued his order relinquisliing military control, it was assumed that the 
requirements ot Cangressional law had become inoperative, and that 
the national authority was no longer etfective in Georgia. 

On the 8th day of August, 1868, a resolution was offered in the 
House of Kepresentatives of the General Assembly, "denying the eligi- 
l)ility of colored men to seats upon the floor of the House," who up to 
that time had been acting as members, and on the 3d day of September 
following, twenty-six colored members were expelled. On the 12th day 
of September, similar action was perfected in the Senate, and all the 
colored Senators were expelled. On the 6th day of October, 1868, this 
organization adj ourned . 

Congress reassembled on the 7th day of September, 1868, when the 
credentials of one of the Senators elect, Hon. Joshua Hill, were pre- 
sented in the Senate, and, upon objection being made, his credentials 
were referred to the Judiciary Committee. This committee, having 
examined thoroughly into the organization, and the revolutionary 
action of the legislative body, which had assumed to elect these Sena- 
tors, and after having had the case before it for deliberation for many 
weeks, made an elaborate report to the Senate against the admission 
of lsh\ Hill, in which that committee say : 



*'Your committee are of opinion that the act of June 25, 1868, which 
recpnred that the Constitutional Amendment should be duly ratified, 
must be held to mean tliat it must be ratified by a Legislature ^/jAec/t 
Juts in good faith substantially complied with the requirements oflxw 
promding for its organization.'" 



44 

Roferriiig to the fact that ordinarily the election and (lualification of 
members of the State Legislature is not a subject to be inquired into 
by the Senate, the committee in their report, marked very distinctly 
the difference between a State Avliich has uninterruptedly maintained 
its proper relations to the Uuion, and one like ours, in Avhich a govern- 
ment is being organized under and by virtm^ of the authority of the 
United States. The committee say : 



The election and qualification of members of the Legislature, ichere 
the existence of any Legislature authorized to act as such ig not involved, 
cannot be inquired into by llie Senate in determining the right of a 
Senator to his seat, your committee liold that the qiiesliou involved in 
this case is not whether persons not entitled to seats in the Legi-la- 
ture were received by that body and allowed to vote upon tlie election 
of a Sen dor, but whether the body assuming to be iIk; Legishiture 
violated the conditions ujjoii ichich it icas allowed :o orginize, by permit- 
ting disloyal "persons to participate in its proceedings. 



In repelling the proposition that the action of the Legislature touch- 
iDg the eligibility of its members, under the law and the Fouiteeuth 
Amendment, together with the subsequent action in the premises by 
the District Commander, finally disposed of the whole question and 
debarred Congress from taking any action — the committee say : 



Whereupon the two Houses went through the form of an investiga- 
tion But from the evidence belore your committee, the investiga- 
tion does not appear to have been conducted in good faith, or with 
any intention either ot finding the facts or of excluding persons 
known t'> be disqualified. A committee was appointed in each 
House. In the Senate the majority of the committee found all the 
members qualified, but there was a minority report which gave an 
abstract of the evidence aj.d found lour Senators disqualified. The 
evidence consisted of the admissions of the Senators themselves,|which, 
if true, they should havebcen excluded. Yet the Senate passed a resolu- 
tion, under the operation of the previous question, admitting tli'm all. 



Forthe purpose of this report, however, your committee did not 
deem it necessary to ascertain the number of disqualified persons 
admitted. But the fact that any were knowingly admitted was not 
only a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and h failure to comply 
with the requirements of Conirress, but manifests a disposition to dis- 
obey and defy the authority of the United States. It one could be 
admitted, -why not all ? And will it be contended that if the entire 
body had been composed of men who had usurped the functions of 
the Legislature against the express provisions of the reconstruction 



45 

acts, tbey could have complied with the provisions of those acts so as 
to create any olilifralion ou the part of Congress to receive their Sena- 
tors auct Representatives? 



The action of Congress in this matter is fully qnotrd, hecansc 
of its importance, as the foundation upon which the subsequent actiuu 
rests. 

If our legislative organization had been perfected as required by 
the laws, there would have been no power resting in Congress to 
interfere which would not iipply equally to the adhering States— New 
York or Massachusetts — but when it was ascertained that we had not 
complied with the laws, and had not organized the Legislature by 
excluding men who were disqualified by the h\\\\ Congrc ss could in 
nowise be bound by the action of such a body, and the right, we may 
say the duly, ot Congress to adopt such measures as seemed to tliem 
proper to enforce their own laws, whs not only indisputable, but 
freely fidmilted. As will be subsequently shown. Congress and the 
President concur in requiring us to commence again the work of 
reconstruction at the precise point where a failure in the execution of 
those laws becomes apparent, viz : the Foukth Day of July, 
18Ge. 

That both Houses of Congress movect in harmony upon this sub- 
ject is established by the adoption of the following preamble and leso- 
lulion in tlie House of Representatives of Congress after the report of 
the Judiciary Committee was made in the Senate : 



Whereas it is reported that the Legislature of Georgia has expelled 
the colored members thereof, and admitted to their seats while men 
who received minorities of votes at the polls, and tliat members of 
said Legislature wbo had been elected thereto by the votes oT colored 
men jo.ned in such aciion, and that twenty seten dUquaUfied 
white men hold seats in said Legislature, in violatiou ' f tlie Fourteenth 
Amendment to the Constitutwn and of the reconstruction acts of Con- 
gress: and Senators IVom Georgia have not been admitted to the 
Senate of the United States ; 

Resol'oed, Tiiat the Committee on Reconstruction be ordered to 
inquire and report whether :niy, and if any, what further action ought 
to be taken during the Fortieth Congress respecting the representation 
of Georgia iu this House 

[Adopted January 2^-yeas, 127; nays, R3.] 



Whi.e this action was being taken by Congress, indicating plainly 
the desire, the judgmeut, and the purpose of the Goveri.meut, this 



46 

illegal legislative orgau'zation ot ours, oa the 13th of January, 18G9, 
reassembled, and after beiog in session until the 18th day of Maicli fol- 
lowing, refused to heed the recommendations tlien repeated to perfect its 
organization in accordance with the laws of Congress, by the exclu- 
sion of the disquMlified persons and the restoration of members 
expelled on account of their color. 

All that has since been done could then have been avoided. We 
all knew wliat was required of us, and should have promptly coo.-- 
plied. 

Valuable lives would have bi';'n s-.vcd. The peace, good order, 
and good name of our State would have been maintained, and our 
material prosperity greatly enhanced, by following ihe dictates of 
"wisdom and ceasing useless and fruitless opposition to the inevitable. 
Bnt unfortunately other counsel was heeded, and the policy of reaction 
and resistance prevailed at that linie. 

Congre.'-s assembled again on the first Monday of December, 18G0, 
and in accordance with the recommendation of the President pro- 
ceeded promptly to prepare and adopt an act to promote the recon- 
struction of Georgia, and thus overcome the obstacles which had been 
placed in the way of restoration by the men who had embraced every 
previous opportunity to defeat that wise and just policy which is in- 
volved in the Congressional enactments for the establishment of civil 
governments in this and ntiier Southern seceding Slates. 

The act under which j'-ou are now assembled and organized was 
adopted in the United States Senate on the 17th of December, 18G9, 
by a vote of 46 to 9, and in the House on the 21st of the same month 
by a vote of 121 to 51, and became law by the approval of the Presi- 
dent on the following day, thus displaying the united determination 
of Congress and the PresidcLt that the machinatious of defeated 
rebels should not prevail by ci^il proceedings after their aimed oppo- 
sition had been so signally defeated. 

In accordance with the letter and the spiiitof the action of Con- 
gress, the President, on the 24th of December, 1869, assigned ''an 
officer of the army, not below the lank of Biii^adier General " — Brevet 
Major General Aitred H. Terry — to the command of Georgia as a 
Military District. 

I have thus recapitulated the facts covering our political history 
from the time of the adoption of the act of March 2d, 18G7— which 
declares 



''That until ilie people of said Rebel States shall by law be admit- 
ted to representation to the Congress of the United Stales; the civil 
governments that may exist therein shall be iXiidmniii provmonal only, 



47 



and shall be in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the 
United States, any time to abolish, modify, control, and supersede the 



same." &c. - 



up to the pre.-rent hour, and it will not, I think, be seriously argued 
that llie riiilit reserved by Congrtss in that act has ever been with- 
drawn by the action of Congress or expired by reason of any legal 
act of our own. 

But the argument made by General Terry in his report is so cogent 
and conclusive tlut I repeat it here. I quote from Major General 
Terry's report, dated "Atlanta, Ga., August 14th, 18G). * * 



"AVhile I liave been in command of the Department, I liave en- 
deavored lo lake no action which cou'd not be justified by the letter 
of ihe]aw\ even if Georgia ^honld be held to be restored to irsorii>inal 
relations to ihe General Government. I have confined myself to giv- 
ing support to the civil authorities, and moving detachments of troops 
into some of the disturbed counties where their presence would exert 
a good influence, and where thev would be retuly to act if properly 
called upon. I tliink tliat some good has in this way been accom- 
plished, hut the great evil has by no means been reached. Ab a De- 
parment Comn'ander, I can do no more ; fi>r whatever m^}^ be ibe 
status of Georgia, and whatever nmy be the powers Avliich an officer 
assigned to ci)nimand the Third Dis rid, created by 'he Reconstiuc- 
tiou Acts, w-'uld po.ssess, it is only an officer, so assigned, who cou-d 
exercise them ; they are nor vested in me by my assignment to the 
command of this Dfparlment. 

" Where, tlierefore the civil authorities are in sympathy w^itli, or 
are overaw^ed by those who commit crinie, it is mani'est that I am 
jiowerJcss. Tn this connection, 1 respectfully call the special attention 
of the General Commanding the Army to the repoits in rcgaid 'o the 
attenipt made in Warren county to secure the a'. est and ])unishment 
of persons charged with crin:e, which are to-da}' forwartled. It ap- 
pears to me that thenationfd honor is pled-ied to the pro'ection of tlie 
loyalist and the Irecdmen of the South T am well aware that the nro- 
tec tion of ])ersonsand prcperi}' is not, ordinarily, one of the functions 
of the National Government, but when it is remembered that hostility 
to the supporters or' the Government, is but a manifestation of ho.s- 
tility to the Government itself, and that the prevailing prejudice 
against the blacks jcsnlts fiom their emancipation — the act of the 
Government — it would seem that such protection cannot be denied 
them, if it le Aviihin the poAV* r of the Gov> rnment to give it, I know 
of no way in Avliich such protection can be L»i^■en in Geor-jia except 
by the exercise of the powers conferred on Military Commandeis by 
.the Recon.struc'ion Acts. The question whether these powers can 
still be exercised in this Stale, is a grave one. I should hesitate to 
attempt the discussion of if, were I not convinced of the absoUife ne- 
cessity of such action. Being convinced of that necessity, I venture 
to present my views to the General Commanding 



48 

*' By the act entitled 'An Act to provide for the more efficient gov- 
ernnient of the rebel States,' pas^sed March 2. 1867, it is provided in 
the tst scclion thereof, thnt tlio States of Virginia, North C^irolina, 
^outh Carolina, Geoioia. ]\Ii?sissippi, Alabama. Louisiana, Florida, 
Texas, and Arkansas, shall be divided into five IMiiitary Districts, and 
subjected t(» milUary authority; an^i in the 2d section, tiiat to e ich of 
the >a:d Di:-;*ricts shall be ass'i^ned as a Conmumdiu" an olHeer of t!ie 
army not be]o"\v the rank of Biiaadier Gcnoi-al The 3d and 4th sec- 
tions of the act specify the powers and duties of District Command- 
ers ; making it their duty " to suppress insurrection, disorder, and 
violence, and to punish, or cause to be punislied, all disturbers of the 
public peace,' etc. Tlie 5th section prescribes the manner in which, 
and the conditions upon v»hieh. the rebel States may tie restored to 
their normal relations to the National Govcrnin^nt, and lixes the con- 
tingencies upon the happening of -which the prcccdirg sections shall 
become inoperative in said States respectively ; upon the happening 
of Avhich, military control in said States shall cease. This section is 
as follows, viz : 

" ' Section 5. And be it further enacted. That when the people of 
any one of the said rebel States shall have formed a constitution of 
government in conformity with the Constitution of tli* United Stat< s 
in all rcsi)ecfs, framed by a convention of delegates elevated by the 
male citizens of said State, twenty-one years old and upward, of what- 
ey^Y race, color or previous condition, wtio have been resident in said 
State for one year previous to the daj^ of such election except such as 
maybe disfranchised for participation in the rebellion, or for felony at 
common law; and when such constitution shall provide that the 
elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the 
qualifications herein stated for ele -tors of delegates ; and when such 
constitution shall be ratified bj'' a mnjority of the persons voting on 
the question of ralifivaiion who are qualified as electors for delegates , 
and wlien such constitution shad have been ?ubmiited to Congress for 
exandnation and api)royal, and Congress shall have approved the same, 
and when said State, by a vote of its Legislature elected under said con- 
stitution, shall has'c adopted the amendment to the constitution of the 
United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress and known as ar- 
ticle fourteenth ; and wdien said article shall have bc^come a part of the 
Constitution of the L^nited States, said State shall be declared entitled 
to representation in Congress, and senators and representatives shall 
be admitted therefrom on'their taking the oath prescribed by law; and 
then and thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be inopera- 
tive in said St;it' : Provided, that no person excluded from the privilege 
of holding orBce by said proposed amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States shall be eligible to election as a member of the con- 
vention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States, nor shall 
any such pcuvson vote for members of such convention." 

It AvUl be observed that, after prescribing the terms of restoration, it 
provides that, when they shall have been complied with by any one of 
the States to winch the act applies, said State sliall be declareil to l^e 
entltl-d to lejresf^ntation in Congress: and Seii>itors and Repi-es^Jiia- 
tt'o s filialL be adniiUed -herefrom on their' t'lking the oath prescribed by 
laiD ; and thex and thereafter the preceding sections shall be in- 
operative in said State. I respectfully submit that, by this language, 
the actual admission of Senators and Representatives is made a condi- 



49 

tion precedent to the abrogation ofmilitaiy authority ; that the action 
of the two Houses of Congress in achnitting members was provided for 
as the final recognition of the restoration of the States ; and that, until 
that recognition' by the la\A -nialdng poAver, unless subsequent acts have 
changedrmodihed' or repealed this act, in this respect, the powers con- 
ferrecl on District Commanders mav be exercised. 

The supplementary acts of Marcli 23, and July 19th, 1867, to my ap- 
prehension, have no bearing whatever upon this question ; they in no 
degree modify or change the act of March 2d, in respect to the time 
when, or the conditions upon which the iirst four sections of that act 
become inoperative. 

The act of June 25, 1858, the only remaining act which relates to the 
^aovernment and restoration of the rebel States, seems to have been 
passed mainlv in pursuance of those portions of the fifth section of the 
act of March 2, 1867, which provide for the submission to, and appro- 
val by Congress of the constitutions framed for the several States, and 
for a declaration by Congress that the States are entitled to representa- 
tion. It contains a conditional approval of the constitutions formed 
for certain of tlie rebel States, and the reaffirming one of the original 
conditions of restoration, provides that after the ratillcation of the 
Fourteenth Amendment by the Legislatures of the said States, they 
shall be entitled and admitted to representation. In this there seems 
to be no departure from the original act ; that act also provided that 
when the prescribed terms and conditions should be complied with, 
the States should be entitled and admitted to representation, but it 
made tlie cessation of military control dependent on the actual admis- 
sion of Senators and Representatives ; and the act of June 25th leaves 
this matter where the original act placed it. Tlie plan of reconstruc- 
tion contemplates live great steps. 1st. The formation of a State con- 
titution. 2d. The approval of that constitution by congress. 3d. The 
ratitication of the Fourteenth Amendment. 4th. The declaration of 
Con,gi-ess that the State is entitled to representation ; and 5tli. The 
hnai act of recognition— the athiiission of Senators and Representa- 
tives on their taking the oath prescribed by the law. When all these 
steps are taken, the powers conferred on military commanders cease to 
exist ; until then they may be exercised. The persons elected as Sen- 
ators by the Legislature of Georg-ia have never been admitted to the 
Senate," and no ' Representatives from the State liave been admitted to 
the present House of Representatives. I therefore respectfully submit 
that the work of reconstruction here has not been completed, and that 
consequently the powers conferred on military commanders may still 
be exercised within the State. 

Thus far I have proceeded on the assumption that aU the conditions 
precedent to restoration have been complied with by Georgia, but I 
now submit that the Fourteenth Amendment has not been duly rati- 
fied by its Legislature. The act of June 25, 1868, in its concluding 
section, provides that ^' no person prohibited from holding ofiice under 
the United States or under any State by Section 3 of the proposed 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States known as Article 
XIV, shall be eligible to any ofiice in either of said States, unless re- 
lieved from disability as provided in said amendment ;" thus in effect 
prescribing the character of the Legislatiuv by which said amendnient 
should be adopted as a condition precedent to restoration; that is to 
say. Legislatures composed of persons eligible to ofiice under that 



50 

amendment. No such Legislature has yet assembled in Georgia; for it 
is well ascertained that in the Leo'islature which did assemble and 
which acted upon tlie Fourteenth Amendment \\vve a number of per- 
sons who \\Tre not eligible to seats therein. Tlie facts in the case 
are fully set forth in the following extract from the report made in 
July last by a majority of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate of 
the United States, to -Avhom had been referred the creden- 
tials of Mr. Josliua Hill, claiming to be a Senator elect from this State,- 
viz : 

"The District Commander, General Meade, by a General Order 
dated June 25, 1S68, declared the result of the election, Knfus B. Bul- 
loclv being elected Governor, and among the members elected to the 
Legislature in that order were tliirty-one colored men — 'three Senators 
and twenty-eight Representatives. (See exhibit No. 1.) By a procla- 
mation of the Governor elect, in pursuance of the act of June 2o, 1868, 
the Legislasure of Georgia convened on the 4th of July following. On 
the 8th July the organization of the tA\'o houses was eftected, and all 
persons declared elected were allowed to take their seats. 

'' When the Governor elect was notified of the action of the two 
houses, he addressed a communication to General Meade, Commander 
of the District, informing him of the fact, and also that it was alleged 
that a number of the members of the General Assembly who had taken 
their seats and one or more officers of that body were not eligible under 
the act of June 25, 1868, by reason of their having taken an official 
oath to suppoi-t the Constitution of the United States and subsequently 
had given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. General Meade on 
the same day replied to the comnnmication. and, among other things, 
desired the Governor elect to communicate to the Legislature that he 
could not recognize any act of that body as valid or allow the same to- 
be executed until satisfactory evidence was proiluced that all persons 
excluded by the Fourteenth Amendment were depiived of their seats 
in both houses. Whereupon, the tMO houses went through the form 
of an investigation. But from \ho <^-. ld(n:ce before yoiu- committee, the 
investigation does not appear to have been conducted in good faith, or 
\Aith any intention either of finding the facts or of excluding persons 
known to hav^e been disqualified. A committee was appointed in each 
house. Li the Senate the majority of the committee found all the 
members qualified ; but there was a minority report which gave an ab- 
stract of the evidence and found four Senators disqualified'. The e^d- 
dence consisted of the admission of the Senators themselves ; which, if 
true, they should have been excluded. Yet the Senate passed a reso- 
lution, under the operation of the previous question, admitting them 
all. These facts appear in the official correspondence between Gov- 
ernor Bullock and General Meade in regard to the organization of the 
Georgia Legislature. (See Exhibit A,)" There were "three reports in 
the House. The majority report found two members disqualified ; one 
of the minority reports found still another member disqualiOed, but the' 
other minority report found that all ^yer^i qualified. The last report 
was adopted by the House under the operation of the previous ques- 
tion. To illustrate the maimer in which the investigation was con- 
ducted, a copy of the proceedings of the Legislature on the 16th, 17th 
and 18th daj^s of July, 1868, as reported in the Atlanta Daily Era, and 
forwarded to the State Department, is attached to this report. (See- 
Exhibit A, B and C.) It is alleged that an impartial investigation 



61 

would have shown from tliirty to tbrty rneinbers of the Legishiture dis- 
qualified under the Fourteenth Amendment, and although your com- 
n)ittee have not been able to fully investigate thig matter, but from 
the endence before them, they have little doubt that the nmnber was 
large, as the exhibit hereto attached will tend to establish.'' 

it may be contended that tliis action of the two branches of the Leg- 
islature is tinal and conclusive ; but 1 respectfnll}' submit that by the 
terms of the act of March 2, tlie State government at ttie time was 
provisional only; the Fourteenth Amendment had not been ratified, 
the conditions precedent to restoration had not been performed, the 
State audits officers were still ''subject to the paramount authority of 
Congress," and to the authority wliich had been conferred by law on 
the military Commander of tlie District, of which Georgia formed a 
part; therefore it A\as within the power of that Commander to deter- 
mine the eligibility of members ; and consequently the clause of the 
Constitution of the State wliich gives conclusive jurisdiction of tliis 
question to the two branches of tlie Legislature, cannot be considered 
as having taken effect. 

And I also submit that the action of the Legislature admitting to 
membership the ineligible persons elected to it, whether intentionally 
so or not, was, in etrect, a fraud upon the reconstruction laws, and 
upon the government ; a fraud which so vitiates its organization that 
it cannot be considered a Legislature within the terms and provisions 
of the reconstruction acts ; and therefore the Fourteenth Amendment 
has not been ratilied by the Legislature of Georgia; the conditions pre- 
cedent to the restoration of the State liave not been fidly complied 
with, and tlie first, second, third, and fourth sections of the act of March 
2 have not become inoperative in this State. 

Tuere have been several official acts of the Exeeutive and Legisla- 
tive Departments of the Government bearing upon this question, 
some of which declare or imply that the State has been restored to its 
normal conditit)n, others tiiat it has not been. Of the former class 
are : First. The order of General McMde declaring the State restored, 
and withdrawing from tlie exercise of military control over it. Sec- 
ondly. General Orders No. "5, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, 
July 28, 1868, declaring that the Third Military District had ceased to 
exist ; and Thirdly. The admission of members from G^'orgia to the 
House of Heprtsentatives of the Fortieth Cons^ress. Of the latter 
class are : The refusal of the Senate to admit the persons elected to it 
from Georgia ; the refusal of the pres-nt House of Representatives t<» 
admit members to it from tiie State, and the refusal of Coniiress to 
admit members to it from the State, and the refusal of Congress to 
count in the accustomed manner the electoral vote of the State at the 
recent Presidential election. It is hardly necessary to suggest that 
the Hfgument to be drawn from this action, as a whole, is strongly 
against the proposition that the S ate has been reston-d. 

In conclusion, I desiro to express my conviction that the only way 
to restore good order in tlie State, is to resume milit iry control over 
it for the time lieing, and ultimately to provide by laio that the Legisla- 
ture shall reassemble as a provisional Legislature, from wliich all in- 
eligible persons shall be excluded, and for which all ( hgible persons 
elecied to it, wliite or black, shall be admitted. Such a Legislature 
would, I believe, enact such laws and invest the Executive with such 
powers as would enable him to keep the peace, protect life and prop- 
erty, and punish crime. 



The process of resuming military control would, it appears to me, 
be a very simple one. x\ll that would be required is an order from 
the President countermanding General Orders No. 55, Adjutant Gen- 
eral's Office, July 28, 1868, and General Orders No. 103, Headquarters 
Third Military District, July 22, I808, and assigning an officer to the 
command of the District, excepting the States of Florida and Ala- 
bama. This action I respectfully recommend. 

I have the ])onor to be, General, very respeftfully, your obedient 
servant, 

ALFRED H. TERRY, 
Brevet Major General Commanding. 



That the foregoing presents the correct legnl view of the case, and 
that Congress and the administration have so decided, is fully estab- 
lished by the fact that Congress has assumed to legislate upon the sub- 
ject, and that the President has approved such legislation, and has 
assigned a commander to this district, by the following order : 



General Ordeks) HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, 

[ ADJUTANT'S GENERAL'S OFFICE, 
No. 1. j Washington, January 4, 1870. 

By directionOf the President of the United States, so much of Gen- 
eral Orders No 103, dhted Headquarters Third Military District, (De- 
partment of Georgia, Florida and Alabama,) Atlanta, Georgia, July 
22, 1868 ; and so much of Gei eral Orders No. 55, dated Headquarters 
of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, July 28, 1868, 
as refers to the State of Georgia is hereby countermanded. Brevet 
Major General Terry will, until further orders, exercise within that 
State the powers of the Commander of a Military District, as provi- 
ded by the act of March 2, 1867, and the acts supplementary thereto, 
under his assignment by General Orders No. 83, dated Headquarters 
of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, December 24, 
1869. 
By command of General Sherman. 

E. D. TOWNSEND, 

Adjutant General. 



That it is a political question upon which Congress is the sole and 
final judge, will not be denied. 

It therefore follows that, having perfected an organization as re- 
quired by law, you are prepared and required to pass upon the several 
subjects submitted for your action by the acts of Congress, known as 
the Reconstruction Acts, and to elect Senators. 

These subjects are the latification of the Fourteenth Amendment, 
giving the assent of the State to certain modifications of the Consti- 
tution, and the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment. 



53 

Should it be urged that we have already acted upon the Fourteenth 
Amendment, etc., it is a sufficient answer to quote th(i action of Con- 
gress, wherein they hold that no legal organization of a Legislature 
has heretofore been perfected. And should it be argued that Georgia 
was counted .is having ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, it is 
answered by the following joint resolution of Congress, adopted 
before Georgia acted, and in which Georgia is not named: 



Concurrent EeHoluU^'fis of Congress respecting >Jie ratification of the 
Fourteentli Amendment to the Constitution, July 21 18G8. 

Whereas the Legislatures of the States of Connecticut, Tennessee, 
New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, 
Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota. New York, Wisconsin, Pennsyl- 
vania, Rhode Island, Michi'ian, Nevada, New Hampshire, Massa( hu- 
selts, Nebraska, JVJaine, Iowa. Ai^^ansas, Florida, Nor'h Carolina, 
Alabama, Soutli Carolina, and Louisiana, being three-fourths and 
more of the several States of the Unioo. liave ratified the fourteenth 
art'cle of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, du'y pro 
posed by two-thirds of t-ach House of the Thirty ninth Congress, 
therefore, 

" Eesolved, by the Senate, [the House of Representatives concurring,] 
That said fourteenth article is hereby declared to be a part of the Con • 
stitution of the United Slates, and it shall be duly promulgated as such 
by the vSecretjiry ol State. 

''.Inly 21 — P'ssed the Senate without a count. 

" Same day the House passed the resolution — yeas 126, nays 32 ; the 
preamble — yeas 127, nays 85." 



nur action liaviug heen acce[)ted ami approved by Congress by the 
admission of Senatois and Representntives, we will, after nearly ten 
years of wandering astraj^ be once more a State in the Union. Our 
Constitution will then become of force, and upon the election by your 
now legal organization of the officers provided for by the Constitution, 
the Stale Government will become a government de jure; the mem- 
bers of your honorable body will enter upon the terms for which they 
were elected, and it is hoped and believed that nothing will ever again 
occur to disturb the harmonious relations which should be forever 
maintained between this State and the National Government. 

I transmit herewith authentic copies of the joint resolutions of tiie 
Thirty-ninth Congress, proposing an amendment to the Constitution 
of the United Slates, known as Article XIV, ard the joint resolution 
of the Fortieth Congress, proposing an amendment known fts Article 
XV; also the act of June 25ih, 1868, which requires the assent of the 
State to be given to certain modifications of the Constitution of the 
State. 



54 

The parly in this State which has promoted recousliucttion may 
properly be mentioued in a communication of this character, because 
party lines here, as in all the Southern States since the rebellion, have 
been drawn between those who favored restoration of State govern- 
ments under Congressional enactment and those who opposed such 
restoiation ; the former party being in favor of compliance, and the 
latter party opposed to any settlement which did not practically yield 
all the issues which the General Government had established by force 
of arms. 

This party, therefore, has been and is the party of peace, and the 
other the organization of all the elements of discord, discontent, and 
defiance. And I speak of the party iavoring the reconstruction 
measures, now to recognize the fact that its course has been consist 
ent and peisistent in support of the measures provided by Congress 
as a settlement and for a restoration of civil government in the South, 
and the party has been equally as determined in its opposition to every 
scheme which the old political tr.cksters have devised to defeat, this 
wise and just policy of Congress. 

In pursuing their opposition to Congress, these political charla- 
tans have resorted to every conceivable baseness, abandoning argu- 
ment to take up with murder and assassination; disreg rdintr princi- 
ples to indulge in villification, and now, in their hopeless despair, we 
tind them endeavoring to grasp a Republican livery, under which 
they hope to hide their nefarious puipose. They now loudly proclaim 
their hot haste to promote reconstruction and to adopt measures which 
will successfully perfect it. 

While we congratulate the State, and the country, even upon this 
outward evidence that wisdom is returning to our misguided brethren, 
the party door is wide and open for any and all who desire to enter 
and support the great principles of equal rights and repubhcan liberty, 
which have triumphed over secession and rebellion. 

We desiie the good of the whole people; that tbe rights of the poor 
laboring men shall be equally protected wiih those of ihe lich; that 
the avenues of intelligence shall be open fur all, and that a citizen's 
wc.rth shall be determined by his own efforts and his own character, 
neither advanced nor retarded by his birth, his color, his religion, or 
his politics. Upon this platform all can unite. The industrious, the 
intelligent, and tliose who love peace rather than strife, will soon 
abandon the lead of disappointed politicians, and aid in sustaining 
the Government. 

The wrongs Avhich have been done, the lawless outiages which 
have been committed in many parts of tbe Sta'e, are the acts of but a 



55 

few irresponsible persons. When all good citizens exert their influ" 
ence in favor of justice, lawlessness will cease. 

Let US, therefoie, unite in a complete recognition of rights of men, 
irrespective of birth, color, or previous condition, and frankly admit 
that under, and before, the law all men are equal — tliat all are responsi- 
ble — and see to it that by future legislation the requirements of our 
Constitution are recognized — that free schools are established and 
maintained, and that protection is secured for person and propeity, 
and for the free expression of political opinions. 

Let party lines be extended so as to welcome and include all who 
are in favor of impartial suffrage nnd universal amnesty. Under our 
btate Constitution no man is disfranchised, and under the Constitu- 
tion of the United States no man will be disqualified from holding 
oflQce who is ready to maintain and uphold the Government. 

I would respectfully recommend that the Fourteenth Amendment 
and the fundamental conditions required by the Act of June 25, 1868, 
and the Fifteenth Amendment be adopted at once, and that your hon- 
orable body then take a recess until Monday the 14th instant. 

^ hould it be deemed desirable by any member to attempt gt-neral 
legislation at this time, his attention is invited to the following extract 
from the opinion of the Honorable Attorney General of the United 
States in the case of Virginia : 



"It is required under the previous law to act upon the question of 
adopting tlie * * [Amendments] to the Constitution of tlie United 
States before the admission of the Slates to representation in Congress. 
I am of opinion, therefore, that it may come together, <jiganize, and 
act upon that Amendment, but that until Congress shall have appro- 
ved the Constitution, and the action under it, and shall have restored 
the State to its pioi)er place in the Union, by recognizing its form of 
Government as republican, and admitting it to representation, the 
Legislature is not entitled, and could not, without violation of law, 
be allowed to transact any business, pass any act or resolve, or under- 
take to assume any other function of a Legislature, if the test oath 
has not been required of its members." 



In a subsequent opinion the Honorable Attorney General decided 
that the election of Senators, at the proper time, was a part of the 
work of reconstruction. 

Your organization having been recognized from to-day, the time 
fixed by the United States for the election of Senators will occur on 
Tuesday, the 15th instant, and as it is unwise to attempt any general 
legislation while the government is provisional, and pending our 
recognition by Congress, the recess recommended seems desirable. 



56 

I shall esteem it a personal and official favor if your honorable body 
will authorize a joint committee to sit during the recess, and investi- 
ga e the indirect charges made by the Treasurer, through the public 
prints, against the Executive, as well as any and all charges he may 
now have to present I would respectfully recommend that the 
Committee be authorized t.> send for persons and papers, and to 
administer oaths; and I am confident tbat such validity will be given 
to the acts of the committee, by the Commander of the District, as 
may be necessary to insure justice. 

RUFUS B. BULLOCK, 

Provisional Governor. 

Atlanta, Wednesday, February 2, 1870. 



The great mass of the people of our State desire a prompt 
settlement of the reconstruction measures, and are disposed to 
acquiesce in the congressional plan as now carried out, by means 
of the late supplemental act to promote reconstruction in 
Georgia. 

I am confidant that the organization of the legislature is now 
as nearly perfect as it is possible by legislation to mak^ it. 
That there are but few, if any, members of the General Assem- 
bly now participating in its proceedings who are disqualified, 
certainly not enough of that number to affect the action of 
either House. And I therefore respectfully recommend that 
Congress, being the sole and final judge of the question, shall 
accept and approve of the organization which has been made, 
and thereby close up and definitely settle the great cause of the 
restoration of the States to the Union with loyal local govern- 
ments 

RUFUS B. BULLOCK. 



P. S. — As requested by Senator Stewart, I transmit herewith 
the list of yeas and nays in the House and Senate on the pas- 
sage of the 14th and 15th amendments and fundamental condi- 
tions, as taken on the 2d of February instant. 



57 
I also transmit the following letter: 

"National Hotel, Washington, D. C, 

''February 9, 1870. 
" Governor Rufus B. Bullock: 

" Dear Sir : I was very much astonished this morning to hear 
Rev. Dr. J. H. Caldwell, of our State, objecting to the organiza- 
tion of our legislature, from the fact that only a few days before 
I left Georgia, Hon. J. Mason Rice, a member of the legislature, 
called on me and stated that Mr. Caldwell desired him to say to 
me, that if the party would elect him (Caldwell) senator for the 
long term, that he would sustain you as Governor, and work to 
unite the republicans on the same line. 

" Hon. C. H. Prince also heard Mr. Rice say the same thing. 
''Yours truly, 

'FOSTER BLODGETT." 

" The above statement was made to me by Mr. Rice. 

' C. H. PRINCE." 




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